8-7-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
Heading into a divisional matchup against playoff-contending Cincinnati Reds, the Pirates will look to bounce back after back-to-back series losses as they face Brady Singer for the opening game as he enters with a solid 4.36 ERA over 22 starts with the Reds this year.
We have covered Singer extensively in the previous write-ups (see here and here) as this is the fourth time in the last 12 months that the Pirates have faced Singer (most recently on May 21), who has a 1-2 record with a 5.40 ERA and 12 strikeouts in the previous three outings.
The long-time Royals starter has had a very up-and-down first season with the Reds, alternating strong months (combined 3.44 ERA in March/April and June but 10.20 ERA over 29.1 innings in May and July) but is coming off a very strong outing against the Braves last week where he held them scoreless for 6 innings of 4-hit ball with just 1 walk and 10 strikeouts – his highest mark on the year and most in a single game since July 23, 2022.
His biggest road bumps have come on the road as, despite playing home games at Great American Ball Park, he has been much worse on the road with a .674 OPS through 67 innings at home compared to an .812 OPS over 48.2 innings on the road.
His defense behind him has improved immensely with the recent trade for Gold Glove third baseman, Ke’Bryan Hayes, but Singer has both the 4th lowest ground-ball rate (35.7%) and 4th highest line drive rate (23.5%) in the National League (per FanGraphs).
Singer works a fastball/slider combo with some deviations on the pitches (sinker/4-seam/cutter) but doesn’t vary much when facing lefties versus righties, and right-handed hitters are having the most success against Singer’s sinker as they are batting .299 against the offering with a .537 slugging – by far the best they are faring against any offering and the one he uses the most (42%) in these instances.
Left-handed hitters have overall had more success against Singer (.789 OPS compared to .664 from rightes) but the damage hasn’t come from any of his main pitches. Lefties are batting just .234 against the sinker and .244 versus Singer’s slider but have had more success against his lesser used options batting .280 against his 4-seamer while hitting .364 against both his cutter and infrequently used sweeper. But when you boil it down, he’s essentially a 2-pitch arm so either look for the heat or look for the spin and lefties have been equally capable of deciphering and attacking the fastball versus breaking ball.
On the whole, Singer doesn’t offer a ton of deception for opposing hitters. He has plus-extension but is well below-average in a multitude of critical metrics. If the bats have a chance at getting back to the form they had on the roadtrip, it’s got to happen against Singer today because the weekend matchups only get tougher from here.
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