7-19-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
After getting dog-walked in the game last night, the Pirates will try to wash it off and figure out how to defend their turf as they pivot to facing their next opposing pitcher in long-time Brewer, Adrian Houser.
Houser, who spent nine seasons in the Milwaukee organization, enters today with a 5-2 record and 1.56 ERA through 57.2 innings pitched with the White Sox this year.
The 32-year old veteran righty is finding success despite mediocre strikeout and walk rates (17.3% and 8%, respectively) while benefiting from the highest strand rate of his career (85.8%) with much of this due to his ability to induce ground balls and avoid barrels.
Houser’s arsenal relies heavily on his low-90s sinker while using a mid-80s slider and low-80s curve as his main secondary options against righties while pivoting to a mid-90s 4-seam and mid-80s changeup when facing lefties.
He throws the sinker 55.4% of the time against righties and they are batting just .207 against the offering; however, this is mostly due to some batted ball luck as Houser has just a 6% whiff rate on the pitch against righties with a .283 xBA in these situations so right-handed hitters should be geared up to attack the pitch.
While lefties similarly have underperformed against his sinker (.205 BA with .270 xBA), Houser diversifies his mix and has gotten poor results with his changeup as his .357 BA and .375 xBA against the pitch are the highest among his main offerings.
Although his fans felt he was an All Star snub, he’s been teetering on the edge this season as among starters with at least 50 innings pitched, Houser sits with the third biggest difference between his ERA and FIP – indicating an eventual regression to the mean.
The Pirates have shown they can produce a solid offensive performance at home but they need to start showing that they won’t back down in their Houser.
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