Best pitches thrown by Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers in 2023

A look at some of the best pitches thrown by Pirates pitchers this season.

Photo Credit: Ryan Palencer

We’ve looked at some of the best pitches in the Pirates minor league system already, so today, I wanted to look at the same thing, except at the major league level.

Using Baseball Savant’s RV/100, I wanted to look at who had the best of each pitch among Pirates pitchers.

To qualify, a pitch had to have at least 10 plate appearances determined by it, opening up to almost everyone who played in a game this season.

Four Seam: David Bednar, 1.8 RV/100

Not matter how you dice it up, Bednar had the best fastball among Pirates pitchers this past season. Hitters only hit .188 against it, and Bednar generated a 30.3% whiff rate and a 29.1 K%.

An honorable mention, Carmen Mlodzinski, put up a 1.6 RV/100. Looking at regular RV, he finished in a tie with Mitch Keller (5) for second, but did so throwing 500 less four-seams than him.

Sinker: Luis Ortiz, 2.1 RV/100

This one was curious looking at it, as none of the surrounding metrics really stand out when it comes to his sinker, but regardless, it grades out as the best in the system.

Trying to refind success, Ortiz could look to throw the pitch more than the 28.3% rate he did last year, especially considering his four-seam was one of the worst in all of baseball, not just the Pirates.

Change Up: Yerry De Los Santos, 1.7 RV/100

This was an interesting pitch to look at. Andre Jackson was credited with throwing more change ups than any other Pirates pitcher last year, but it was rated as the worst when it comes to RV/100.

Ryan Borucki had the best mark among players that are currently on the 40-man roster, with a 1.7 RV/100. Opponents hit just .158 against it, with a hard hit rate (HH%) of just 18.1%.

YDLS signed with the Yankees after becoming a free agent this off-season, but while with the Pirates his change up put up a 27.3% whiff rate and .289 xwOBA.

Curveball: Andre Jackson, 1.5 RV/100

The waiver pick up was brilliant with his curveball, with an .067 opposing batting average and slugging percentage. He didn’t use it much, but opponents picked up one hit in 15 at-bats, and his expected metrics played just as much into his favor (.100 xBA, .108 xSLG).

Johan Oviedo posted a close 1.2 RV/100 mark, holding his opponents to a .193 average and 30.8% whiff rate with the pitch.

Cutter: Duane Underwood Jr., 5.4 RV/100

DUJ is no long with the organization after being DFA during the season and eventually electing free agency.

Hunter Stratton was added to the 40-man roster, only to get non-tendered during the offseason. He put up a very strong 3.9 RV/100 with his cutter that included a 32% whiff rate.

Slider: Vince Velasquez, 2.3 RV/100

It’s easy to see why the Pirates had him throw the pitch over 44% of the time, as it put up a 31.9% whiff rate and opponents hit only .192 against it. He was one of the team’s reclamation projects in 2023, and he was off to a strong start before getting hurt.

Angel Perdomo put up good metrics with the slider, with a .143 xSLG among 153 thrown.

Jose Hernandez had the second highest usage rate with the slider, behind only Dauri Moreta, and allowed only a 23.8% hard hit rate.

Sweeper: Ryan Borucki, 3.7 RV/100

Borucki was credited with throwing a slider and sweeper last year, focusing primarily on the latter. He threw the sweeper only 13.8% of the time, but made it count each time, allowing just three hits on 34 at-bats against it.

He also picked up a strikeout rate of 47.1% and a 11.1% hard hit rate.

Attention usually turns to Mitch Keller when it comes to the sweeper, but it actually graded out negative on Savant, but put up some strong underlying metrics that may hint at a bounceback.

Splitter: David Bednar, 0.3 RV/100

Bednar becomes the only pitcher to have two of the best pitches, basically by default, as he was the only to throw a splitter in 2023. It graded out slightly in the plus range, picking up a 33.6% whiff rate while only throwing it 16.6% of the time.

It did get hit fairly hard, with a 44.1% hard hit rate against it.