7-11-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
Another road series, another sweep as the Pirates offense continues to look like it needs a cold brew to start the game. Can the Buccos find success on the road? They head next to the Twin Cities to face the Minnesota newest minted All Star, Joe Ryan, who has most deservedly earned this nod.
Ryan ranks 6th in batting average against (.192) and 3rd in WHIP (0.89) behind just Cy Young front-runners Tarik Skubal and Zack Wheeler, while only those two and Garrett Crochet sit ahead of him in K-BB% among qualified starters.
While Ryan lost last time he faced the Pirates 13 months ago – despite pitching 7 strong with just 2 runs off 2 hits and 2 walks to 8 strikeouts – he’s in prime form this year as he enters play today with a 2.76 ERA,
Ryan features low-90s velocity on his fastballs, works in the high-80s for this splitter and slider, a low-80s sweeper and high-70s curve – but his best pitch has been the fastball.
Lefties are batting .202 against Ryan’s 4-seamer while righties are hitting a paltry .137 against the offering as he has the highest run value in MLB off the pitch.
His other fastballs have not been as effective for Ryan. He uses the splitter as his main secondary pitch against lefties while pivoting to the sweeper and sinker against righties – all of which are better options to attack as lefties have a .250 BA and .556 SLG against his splitter while righties have hit .308 against his sinker and slugged .500 against the pitch.
He will look to locate both the splitter and sinker low in the zone (compared to up and in for the 4-seam) but he doesn’t get a lot of chases or groundballs, and gets barreled on these pitches a TON – his sinker, in particular, has an average EV of 92.4 MPH – and he can’t stop the runners coming home once that happens.
Bucs bats will need to pick up the spin and location, attack the lower fastballs and pounce on the mistakes. Ryan is going to fill up the zone on fastballs but if they can find their pitch and are ready for it, this team can get back in the black.
Subscribe to our site, it’s free and all you’ll get from us is a notification when there’s something new to read.
Steel City Pirates 