BRADENTON, Fla. -- There are several pieces of vital information posted on the bulletin board as you enter the Pirates' clubhouse at LECOM Park. Pitching schedules for the week ahead. Reminders for certain players to take care of internal housekeeping.
And a colored chart of what each pitcher's strike percentage is.
"It was on individual reports, what yours was," Chase De Jong told me, saying that the information was usually sent on an individual basis on a phone or at a player's locker. "Promptly displayed on the bulletin board? I don't think it was [there last year]."
Of course being able to throw strikes and in the zone are imperative for any pitching staff, but as the Pirates enter a new phase of their rebuild, getting the most out of the pitchers is going to be even more vital. If they're going to win, they're going to need more performances like they got from De Jong and Mitch Keller Tuesday, who led the way for a 7-2 Pirates win over the Blue Jays at LECOM Park. Keller didn't walk a batter in his three innings and De Jong recorded a seven-pitch fourth inning.
When talking to Oscar Marin this winter, one of the things he said this young staff needed to find was its identity. When camp started, he certainly knew what he wanted that identity to be.
"When someone comes in to play the Pittsburgh Pirates, they’re going to smother you in the zone," Marin said earlier this spring training. "That’s something we’ve been talking about a ton. Some of the acquisitions that we’ve made have those mentalities and some of the changes that have happened with guys that we already have, that’s what they’re trending toward."
"It’s being emphasized every day," Derek Shelton said. "The theme on that side of the ball is throwing strikes and being competitive in the zone. We’re talking about it every day. There’s a chart up for their awareness, for them to know where they’re at. It is something that is talked about every single day."
Internal numbers can vary a bit with public data, but going by Baseball Savant's data from last year, 64.2% of pitches thrown last year league-wide resulted in strikes (including batted balls in play). Baseball Savant's data had the Pirates at 62.9%, which was 28th in the league. Going based on how often the Pirates threw a pitch in the zone, their 46.7% was just ahead of the Rangers, also going by Baseball Savant's data.
“They presented it to us the first day of spring, saying there’s a correlation between teams that have high in-zone percentage and winning [percentage]," De Jong said. "We talk about short-term, obtainable goals. This is something everyone can work on.”
Sometimes team stats can leave some gray area, but throwing strikes was a clear indicator of a good staff versus a poor one in 2022. The top five in the league in strike percentage last year were the Rays, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Guardians and Mariners, all of whom made the playoffs. The bottom five were the Rockies, Nationals, Pirates, Reds and Royals. All five of those teams at least tied for last place in their respective divisions.
That's no coincidence. The scales tip in the pitcher's favor if they can throw strikes. Last year, the league-average OPS was .706. When the hitter was ahead 1-0, it jumped nearly 100 points to .802. An 0-1 count, conversely, resulted in the OPS dropping over 100 points to .598.
During those early spring meetings, the message was simple: Win those first two or three pitches. Marin hammered it home by showing the slugging and batting averages the league had based on count. Getting ahead creates a humongous advantage for the pitchers.
"It really splits 1-1, when you go from 1-1 to 1-2," De Jong said, citing how hitters' OPS goes from .663 to .491 based on those two counts. "It heavily changes the probability of the outcome of the at-bat. Just being in-zone more, which we can control, we use those better counts to leverage a better opportunity for us.”
Hence, the reminder on the bulletin board. Individualized reports aren't going to cut it. Let everyone see your percentage, as well as the major-league average and how the Pirates are a few points behind and need to close that gap.
"We're definitely talking more about it," Keller said. "Everyone, it's on their brain. We want to pound the zone. We're all nasty. We're all in a big-league locker room for a reason. Let's utilize our stuff. If you're throwing balls, nobody's going to swing at them, so let's get people to swing at our s--- and let's be the aggressors.
"It's a constant reminder every time you walk by it," he added. "Lets everybody know here where you're at. If you're at the bottom, ok, let's get it up, and if you're at the top, let's do something to stay there and keep going."
At the top of the leaderboard this spring is Keller, who had thrown a strike in 71% of his pitches entering Tuesday. He essentially matched it in his start, throwing 28 strikes on 40 pitches (70%). Keeping small samples sizes in mind, De Jong was in the middle of the pack entering Tuesday. Also at the top are prospect Wei-Chieh Huang, non-roster invite lefty Rob Zastryzny and Yohan Ramirez, who is competing for a bullpen job and has struggled with his control in the past. Prospects make up most of the bottom of the list, with Kyle Nicolas, Yerry De Los Santos, Mike Burrows, Luis Ortiz and Carmen Mlozsinki making up most of the bottom six on the team, ranging from 48.7% to 55.1%.
For someone who struggled to find his identity in the majors for his early years, it's no coincidence that Keller started his turnaround midseason when he started to add a sinker to get outs on pitches in the zone. Add in further refinements to his arsenal, like the sweeper and this spring's gyro slider, and he has become the favorite for the Pirates' opening day starter later this month in Cincinnati.
"It really is just a mentality," Keller said. "Even if you have two pitches, just the thought of being in the zone and throwing strikes is a huge thing, and that comes with confidence and getting good results. I think it's a full circle event here. If you're throwing strikes, you're going to get good results. If you're ahead in the count, it makes it hard for the hitter. So many good things happen when you throw strikes."
Identity is going to be key for taking that next step as a staff, especially with so many young pitchers set to get their call to the majors at some point this season. Especially since it's not just pitchers and the Pirates who are going to be paying attention to whose name is in a green box on that strike percentage chart and whose is in a red.
“You look at the guys whose names are on that board, it gets around," De Jong said. "[Hitters] know a guy’s strike percentage."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Keller was efficient, effective and just downright good in his three innings, striking out three and working around three hits in his three scoreless innings of work.
One of those strikeouts was arguably the easiest of his career. Nathan Lukes did not get set in the batter's box in time, so he was charged with a strike and Keller was given a free punchout.
"In my brain, I knew I had two strikes and then he called it and then I was like, 'Wait. I'm just going to drop the ball because I know it's strike three,'" Keller said. "It's like bases are loaded and you're on third base and they walk 'em and you're hesitant to run because you don't want to get called out. That was weird."
• Wow, was the sun an absolute pain for the outfielders today. There were four fly balls -- two by each team -- that were either lost in the sun or straight up dropped. That includes a drop by Blue Jays center fielder Wynton Bernard and a Tyler Heineman fly ball in the seventh, allowing the eventual winning run, Nick Gonzales, to score. Two more Pirate runs would score in the eighth on a drop on an Endy Rodriguez pop fly as insurance.
• Carlos Santana is on the board for the Pirates, hitting his first spring homer with the club with this fourth-inning shot:
Carlos SLAMtana. pic.twitter.com/AGy4ADGRjo
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 7, 2023
"He’s gonna do that for us," Shelton said. "Just good, aggressive swings."
• From the postgame notes: The two-hour, 13-minute game time was the shortest for a nine-inning Pirates game since March 18, 2018.
Praise be to the pitch clock.
• Fresh batch of roster cuts to go over today. You can read about them here.
• Got to do an impromptu meetup in the third inning today. Thanks to everyone who stopped over to say hi!

PHOTO VIA @OPTIMIST1961 SINCE, UM, THE REPORTER FORGOT TO GET THE PHOTO ON *HIS* PHONE
Perfect time for a gust of wind, huh?
• Break time for me. I'm heading north for a couple days. Chris Halicke will have you covered down here in Bradenton. Thanks for reading, and I'll be back next week.