MLB Opening Day Stat Tips: Pirates vs Cardinals – JT Brubaker faces ageless Adam Wainwright
Thursday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates battle against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The Pirates offense will be led by Bryan Reynolds, who ranks as the #26-best hitter in baseball according to THE BAT X. Given Reynolds' profile and today's matchup specifics, THE BAT X expects him to average a 0.335 wOBA, 0.268 AVG, and 0.15 HRs. On the other side, Paul Goldschmidt (THE BAT X's #28 hitter in MLB) will bolster the Cardinals lineup. He projects for a 0.353 wOBA, 0.266 AVG, and 0.18 HRs.
Pirates Insights:
THE BAT X projects JT Brubaker to throw 85 pitches in this matchup (6th-least of all pitchers on the slate), considering both his underlying tendencies and the matchup.
Ke'Bryan Hayes's 5.1% Barrel% is in the 22nd percentile since the start of last season.
Ke'Bryan Hayes has a 97 percentile opposite-field rate on his flyballs (40.8%) and has to hit them towards MLB's 2nd-deepest RF fences today.
Cardinals Insights:
Despite conventional wisdom, fastballs are generally a pitcher's least effective pitch. Adam Wainwright must realize this, because he has relied on his non-fastballs a lot since the start of last season: 62.7% of the time, checking in at the 90th percentile.
Tyler O'Neill's 98.9-mph exit velocity on fly balls ranks in the 99th percentile since the start of last season.
St. Louis ranks as the #2 group of hitters when it comes to hitting balls between 23° and 34°, the launch angle range that tends to best-produce home runs (16.4% rate since the start of last season).
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