10 Observations: Pitch usage for Paul Skenes, Bubba Chandler final start, Tsung-Che Cheng in Triple-A

Looking at Paul Skenes' pitch usage, Tsung-Che Cheng playing well with Indianapolis

Editor’s Note: This will be the last 10 Observations article of the season. We may bring one back for the Arizona Fall League, but it may not focus solely on the Pirates.

With just Indianapolis playing this past week in the minors, we incorporated some major league stuff into this edition.

Murphy 9/16—Much of the attention goes to Paul Skenes’ fastball and for just cause. I remain adamant that the rest of his arsenal (and his control) is what truly makes him special.

Watching him recently reminded me of my conversation with Thomas Harrington in Greensboro at the end of the 2023 season. He talked about his process of learning what kind of pitcher he was and what worked and what didn’t.

According to Baseball Savant, Skenes is credited with throwing five other pitchers outside his fastball. The ‘splinker’ probably gets the next most attention, as it’s newer and more unique.

But we’ve seen Skenes lately start to put focus on different pitches, giving the hitters even more to account for.

We’ve even seen games where the change-up was featured more than the splinker. In his last game, the sweeper was even more prevalent (earlier in the week, not the Sunday start).

Yes, the fastball is good, but what makes him special is he can dig so deep in his bag of pitches and find a way to get batters out. The change-up is his least used pitch, and it has a whiff rate of nearly 50% (now over 50%).

Added Note: He was even better in his Sunday start, again due to the splinker and change-up.

Murphy 9/16—The fall we’ve seen from Connor Joe has certainly been something, and it makes you wonder if we will see him next year with Nick Yorke and Billy Cooke on the roster.

I will say this: the way the Pirates have used Joe failed him before he eventually took this downward turn. There was never a reason for him to be anything more than a platoon against lefties, and due to the way the roster was built, Joe has constantly been asked to do more than that.

That’s how it goes, and the ones who stick around in the majors find a way to make it work. It just hasn’t worked out. I don’t generally watch too much of the major league team, especially while the minor season is in full swing, but watching him as things have calmed down has been rough.

Murphy 9/17—Nick Yorke will be just fine in the majors. With his profile, I still like him at second base more, but like so many hitters on this roster, it will be the bat that ultimately gives him the majority of his value. The way he hasn’t changed his approach and is just spamming right field has been a joy to watch.

He will put the ball in play, which is a welcome difference from what the Pirates have gotten at times this year.

Added note: He finally showed he can turn on the ball when he launched his first MLB home run on Sunday.

Murphy 9/17—Speaking of pitchers with good fastballs, the first couple of innings from Bubba Chandler’s last start was perhaps the worst I’ve seen him throw the four-seamer in some time.

The slider had to carry as he fought through some command issues with the fastball. Once it got right, he was still able to salvage things and get a whiff rate of 26%, still above average for a fastball.

Seeing Chandler's development has been special. While this wasn’t the prettiest overall outing, the fact that he could rely on another pitch to get batters out until his go-to pitch got right is something you are okay with seeing, especially since it is so late in the season.

Looking back at it, his last fastball of the season? A 97.4 mph heater he blew by Michael Helman for a swinging strike. It was the second of a three-pitch strikeout.

Not bad for the 479th batter he faced this year.

Murphy 9/17—Dennis Santana has been perhaps the most consistent reliever down the stretch, but what that exactly says about the bullpen is a conversation for another day. That said, if there is one takeaway about the bullpen this year, his roster spot shouldn’t be safe going into 2025. No matter how much they want to add to the bullpen this off-season, they shouldn’t add any less due to Santana, and he should have to earn his roster spot back in the spring.

That’s how you have to treat bullpens until you have an elite, established guy there (and you even saw this year what could happen with that).

Murphy 9/18—It wasn’t exactly the best offensive season for Tsung-Che Cheng on the offensive side. Through two starts, however, he has put together solid at-bats basically each time he was in the batter’s box so far.

It’s encouraging to see that, as there are some potential trickle-down implications from Oneil Cruz moving to center field that could impact Cheng.

Murphy 9/18—With Cruz in center (arguably before), there was a good case to be made that Cheng was the best defensive shortstop on the 40-man, and he’s flashed that early with Indianapolis.

He charged a ball and fired off a quick throw to catch a runner on Wednesday before making a sliding stop to start the first half of a potential double play.

Solid defense, which really has never been the issue with Cheng.

Murphy 9/18—I’ve tried not to overthink the Jalen Beeks/Luis Peralta trade because, in the bigger scoop of things, it probably shouldn’t mean too much. A Double-A for a major league reliever generally will play in the favor of the latter, especially in the shorter term.

The fact that this is turning into just as bad a trade as some of the others they’ve made at the deadline is saying something. Beeks has a -0.1 bWAR in 18.1 innings pitched with the Pirates, and Peralta has a 0.6 bWAR in just 9.1.

Peralta has inherited 12 runners (all numbers as of 9/20) and has allowed just one to score. Beeks allowed triple that in his blowup game against the Cardinals and a total of 56% overall.

Maybe it doesn’t matter down the road, but to give up a controllable lefty with three options for a player who has been worst in every way AND is a free agent at the end of the year is certainly something.

Murphy 9/21—Hopefully, we talked away with it just being a scare, but I still didn’t like how the Jared Jones situation played out on Saturday. Something was clearly going on there, there was too much evidence despite what they said after the game.

I'm just not sure what they had to gain from keeping him out there in what was a 6-0 game at the end of a season you're not in the playoffs. Even if they were fighting for the playoffs, I’m not sure I take that risk.

You have everything to lose and nothing to gain there.

NolaJeffy 9/22 - Mike Burrows ended his season with an exclamation mark. He gave up three earned runs—thanks to two homers— but struck out 10 across five innings pitched. In total, he generated 21 swings and misses. His fastball was up to 95.2 mph, averaging 93.6 mph throughout the start. One of the bigger developments has been that of his changeup. In his final start, he threw it 12 times, drawing seven swings and four whiffs on the pitch.

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