Going Deep: Missing the slider, a season long trait
The Pirates might need to take a page from the movie Major League and offer cigars and rum to the baseball gods to help them hit a curveball or slider as the Rangers’ starting pitcher, Jacob deGrom, and three relievers continued the season-long theme as they struck out nine hitters beating the Pirates 6-2 tonight at PNC Park.
deGrom’s pitch usage going into the game was a four-seamer (47.2%), slider (39%), changeup (9.4%), and curveball (4.4), yet tonight he went as high as 46% slider usage into the fifth inning. The Pirates swung and missed on 1 of 4 curveballs and 9 of 18 sliders from deGrom with three of his seven strikeouts on the slider, the other four on his fastball.
The first 11 Pirates hitters were retired until a Nick Gonzales single in the fourth inning started a two-out, two-run rally that saw five hitters reach base on four singles and walk but couldn’t get the knockout hit as Alexander Canario struck out looking with the bases loaded on a 4-seam fastball:
The fourth inning rally was followed by deGrom striking out the side in the fifth inning and working around a Joey Bart single in the sixth. deGrom relied more on his four-seam fastball over the final two innings to lower his slider usage to his season average 39%.
The early slider usage was likely an intentional game plan for deGrom based on the Pirates’ struggles to hit the breaking ball and quality fastballs. According to Fangraphs’ pitch value per 100 pitches stat, the Pirates are ranked at or near the bottom in a number of pitch types:
Asked about the team’s struggles to hit the slider and curveball this season, Don Kelly focused on deGrom saying, “He's just so tough. The arsenal he has and to be able to go to that slider, then he's dialing it up to 99, 100 (mph). His command is really good too, he's an elite pitcher, especially when you talk about the off-speed pitches he can throw."
The Pirates’ hitters have struck out 670 times this season, an average of 8.7 per game, fifth most in baseball, and tonight was the 42nd time they’ve struck out nine or more times in a game. It was also the 35th game scoring two or less runs as the team remains far ahead in last place in runs scored with 247, seven behind the Royals.
The Pirates’ .335 slugging percentage is the worst in baseball and seeing why is easily identifiable with a position-by-position breakdown:
Catcher - .317 (25th) First Base - .330 (29th) Second Base - .341 (21st) Shortstop - .320 (24th) Third Base - .299 (28th) Left field - .219 (30th) Center field - .413 (10th) Right field - .356 (26th) Designated Hitter - .420 (12th)
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THE ASYLUM
Eric Bowser
3:31 am - 06.21.2025NORTH SHOREGoing Deep: Missing the slider, a season long trait
The Pirates might need to take a page from the movie Major League and offer cigars and rum to the baseball gods to help them hit a curveball or slider as the Rangers’ starting pitcher, Jacob deGrom, and three relievers continued the season-long theme as they struck out nine hitters beating the Pirates 6-2 tonight at PNC Park.
deGrom’s pitch usage going into the game was a four-seamer (47.2%), slider (39%), changeup (9.4%), and curveball (4.4), yet tonight he went as high as 46% slider usage into the fifth inning. The Pirates swung and missed on 1 of 4 curveballs and 9 of 18 sliders from deGrom with three of his seven strikeouts on the slider, the other four on his fastball.
The first 11 Pirates hitters were retired until a Nick Gonzales single in the fourth inning started a two-out, two-run rally that saw five hitters reach base on four singles and walk but couldn’t get the knockout hit as Alexander Canario struck out looking with the bases loaded on a 4-seam fastball:
The fourth inning rally was followed by deGrom striking out the side in the fifth inning and working around a Joey Bart single in the sixth. deGrom relied more on his four-seam fastball over the final two innings to lower his slider usage to his season average 39%.
The early slider usage was likely an intentional game plan for deGrom based on the Pirates’ struggles to hit the breaking ball and quality fastballs. According to Fangraphs’ pitch value per 100 pitches stat, the Pirates are ranked at or near the bottom in a number of pitch types:
Fastball: -0.78 (28th)
Cutter: -0.10 (16th)
Splitter: -0.26 (15th)
Sinker: -1.05 (27th)
Slider: -1.13 (29th)
Curve: -1.18 (30th)
Change: 0.66 (6th)
Asked about the team’s struggles to hit the slider and curveball this season, Don Kelly focused on deGrom saying, “He's just so tough. The arsenal he has and to be able to go to that slider, then he's dialing it up to 99, 100 (mph). His command is really good too, he's an elite pitcher, especially when you talk about the off-speed pitches he can throw."
The Pirates’ hitters have struck out 670 times this season, an average of 8.7 per game, fifth most in baseball, and tonight was the 42nd time they’ve struck out nine or more times in a game. It was also the 35th game scoring two or less runs as the team remains far ahead in last place in runs scored with 247, seven behind the Royals.
The Pirates’ .335 slugging percentage is the worst in baseball and seeing why is easily identifiable with a position-by-position breakdown:
Catcher - .317 (25th)
First Base - .330 (29th)
Second Base - .341 (21st)
Shortstop - .320 (24th)
Third Base - .299 (28th)
Left field - .219 (30th)
Center field - .413 (10th)
Right field - .356 (26th)
Designated Hitter - .420 (12th)
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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