Kovacevic: Pirates' passivity at the plate as institutional as it is inept

MILWAUKEE -- I don't know everything about baseball.

And I don't know one milli-fraction of what the people running the Pirates know about baseball.

But dammit, I'd sure like to think I know -- and I mean know -- that this final pitch can't be taken for a called third strike:

Double that if there's a runner in scoring position. Triple that if it's a tight affair against a Cy Young winner. And quadruple that if Mr. Cy Young just had to shoo his manager after the manager came to the mound, with the pitch count at 102, for the clear purpose of pulling him. And quintuple that if the batter's being paid at a level where he might embrace occasionally delivering for his team rather than deferring that duty.

Instead, this was Ke'Bryan Hayes vs. Corbin Burnes:

For real, my friends. 

Yet again.

Now, lots else occurred on the way to the latest classic loss at this House of Horrors on this Saturday night, the Pirates beaten in 10 innings by the Brewers, 3-2. Notably, David Bednar blew the save in the ninth on two hits wrapped around a wild pitch, Angel Perdomo served up Blake Perkins' walkoff winner in the 10th ...

... and, not to be omitted, the top six spots in the visitors' batting order went a combined 0 for 23, the offense as a whole 3 for 36.

But sorry, what screamed to me all the more up in the American Family Field press box was that this was summarily decided by that solitary Hayes at-bat that ended the sixth inning.

When I asked Derek Shelton if Hayes could've been been more aggressive in that specific setting, or in a similar one the other day at PNC Park when Hayes watched another strike three sail by with the bases loaded to end the bleeping game ... this was the reply:

"Nah," he began with a bit of a cringe. "The one at-bat I think you're talking about, I went back and actually looked at it. Burnes put the 2-0 pitch on the black, the 3-1 pitch on the black, and then he went bottom of the zone with the heater. I mean, that's a tough at-bat."

Sure. But Hayes' awareness that Burnes had just coaxed Craig Counsell into retreating back to the Milwaukee dugout, that Burnes was functioning on fumes, that Burnes is an elite precision pitcher who wasn't about to walk anyone else ... all of that accumulated to motivate one swing -- a foul back -- on six pitches seen? And that doesn't make the at-bat all the tougher?

But hang on. Let's suppose I'm wrong. About, like, everything.

Because I'd then also be wrong that these Pirates have completely cratered on offense because of an institutionally passive approach. And that Andy Haines, the hitting coach, is primarily responsible for that approach. And that Shelton, a former big-league hitting coach, is shielding Haines every time the criticism comes up. And that Ben Cherington fired Rick Eckstein as hitting coach in the middle of the 2021 season because of an unspecified "philosophical" difference, only to replace him with Haines because of an unspecified "philosophical" likemindedness. And that Eckstein's approach through his tenure was winning widespread praise from players for how he always had them "ready to hit," as Josh Bell, Adam Frazier, Bryan Reynolds and others would glow.

I'm wrong about all of that, evidently. 

I'm a baseball dummy.

Maybe we're all baseball dummies, having been schooled from Little League upward to protect the plate on anything that might be called a third strike.

Maybe the statistical database at Baseball Savant's misguided, as well. It shows that the Pirates swing at only 45.3% of the pitches they see, the third-lowest such rate in Major League Baseball. Now, that's wonderful in isolation, since there are plain benefits to being patient, such as their 25.1% rate of swinging outside the zone that's lowest in the majors. But the same source shows that their 261 caught-looking strikeouts are second-most in the majors, and there's no plus to outweigh a minus of that magnitude.

There's also all this, related to production:

• Batting average: .237, 23rd in majors
• Slugging percentage: .387, 24th
• Home runs: 105, 25th
• Barrel percentage: 7.6%, 22nd
• Batted balls: 2,705, 26th

It's almost as if, to become prolific at hitting, the hitter's got to at least ... try to hit?

Look, don't misunderstand, please: I'm intensely familiar with the value of walks and all correlating data. Their importance is indisputable. And with some lineups, making them a priority would work. A slew of eagle-eyed sluggers who can pick out their pitch and be prepared to attack the one they like ... oh, yeah, that'd really work. But with this lineup, with so much youth, with only one Andrew McCutchen ... no chance.

Which leaves this dummy with questions ...

Why, when Cherington stressed "player-centric development" above all else upon being hired, is this one-size-fits-all approach being instilled?

Why would any hitter who's naturally aggressive, young or old, be sent into the box with the equivalent of a stop sign, as happened to Rodolfo Castro and, thus, sapped pretty much everything he had to offer?

Why would it ever matter, within a development scenario that's now four years deep but very much ongoing, to instruct young hitters to take pitches to run up the opposing starter's pitch count that day?

If Hayes gets that coveted walk off Burnes to load the bases for Liover Peguero, does he really think a fresh reliever facing a rookie makes for a more attractive matchup for the Pirates?

And this one above all: Can anyone anywhere name a hitter not named Jack Suwinski who's improved at anything from 2022 to 2023, while weighing that all Suwinski's really achieved is to hit more home runs thanks to more plate appearances?

I don't have those answers. Obviously.

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THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: 2B Ji Hwan Bae (ankle)

• 15-day injured list: RHP Dauri Moreta (lower back)

• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), INF Tucupita Marcano (knee), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Josh Palacios, CF
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Henry Davis, RF
5. Alfonso Rivas, 1B
6. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
7. Liover Peguero, 2B
8. Alika Williams, SS
9. Jason Delay, C

And for Craig Counsell's Crew:

1. Christian Yelich, LF
2. William Contreras, C
3. Carlos Santana, 1B
4. Willy Adames, SS
5. Tyrone Taylor, RF
6. Andruw Monasterio, 3B
7. Victor Caratini, C
8. Brice Turang, 2B
9. Joey Wiemer, CF

THE SCHEDULE

The finale of this four-game series has Johan Oviedo (5-11, 4.42) facing Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 0.79). First pitch is 2:10 p.m. Eastern.

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