6-24-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
After claiming victory yesterday, the Pirates will shift their focus to a very familiar face in today’s game as they will take on Freddy Peralta in his 24th game against the Bucs – the most of any opponent for the veteran righty.
Peralta has been a picture of consistency this season, allowing 3 or less runs in all but one start this season (May 12 at Cleveland) and accumulating 5+ innings of work in all but one outing as well.
The lone sub-5 inning game?
That came on May 23rd against the Pirates as they got his pitch count to 101 in the 5th inning, forcing him out after 4.2 frames.
That start aside, Peralta has been among the best starters in MLB with a 2.76 ERA ranking 12th best in baseball and a .198 batting average against, which ranks 7th best overall.
I discussed Peralta previously ahead of the Pirates matchup with him last month but right now, let’s talk about his splits – specifically, his home/away splits as he has posted a 1.32 ERA over 41 innings at home while pitching to a 4.02 ERA outside of American Family Field.
Over 7 home starts this season, Peralta has held opponents to 1 run or less in six of them, including games against the Cubs, Twins and Athletics – each of which has an above average offense.
While both his 25% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rates at home are sustainable and mostly within his control, he’s also benefited from an abnormally strong 91.4% strand rate when he toes the runner in Milwaukee this season. Additionally, while Peralta has maintained a strong 35.6% hard hit rate (82nd percentile), he gets barreled at a 9.9% clip (27th percentile) leading to a higher xFIP at home (3.84).
Similar to Chad Patrick yesterday, Freddy keeps to a fastball-heavy approach (~60%) sitting in the mid-90s with the heater. He is using the high-80s changeup as the main secondary against lefties and pivoting to a more even split with the changeup, low-80s curve and mid-80s slider when facing right-handed hitters.
Look to attack fastballs and lay off junk. He racks up whiffs and Ks but can walk batters as well (his 34 walks issued are tied for 7th most in MLB) so patience will be key for success against him again today.
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