With a new hitting coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates comes a new approach to hitting. It just might be working.
Spencer Horwitz on Hitting Coach Matt Hague. pic.twitter.com/ZYuMY8pDrX
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) December 18, 2024
Two-Strike Approach is Evident When Pirates are Hitting in Spring
As the reader probably already knows, the new Pirates hitting coach is Matt Hague. Nicknamed “The Hit Collector” during his playing days, he compiled a minor league stat line of .298/.374/.427. Unfortunately, Hague couldn’t parlay that into more than 43 major league games from 2012-15 with the Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays. Nonetheless, he comes respected for his knowledge of hitting.
Hague replaced the unpopular Andy Haines. One of the criticisms leveled at Haines was his one-size-fits-all approach for every Pirate hitter. Under his watch, the Pirates were striking out at an alarming rate. They struck out 1,506 times in 2024, the fourth-most in the major leagues. Too many seemed to be called third strikes. Too many of those seemed to have come with runners in scoring position. That strikeout total surely played a role in the Pirates’ .234/.301/.371 slash line. Only six major league teams had a lower batting average. Only three were worse at getting on base.
Hague had to have impressed those Pirates fans who saw his interview during the game telecast on March 2. He said he’d apply an individualized approach to each hitter based on their skill sets and what they like to do. One noticeable change during the spring exhibition season has been an intelligent two-strike approach that was lacking in 2024. With two strikes, we’re seeing Pirates moving up on the bat handle an inch or two, more conscious of hitting to all fields while expanding the strike zone.
Numbers
So far in the spring, the biggest beneficiaries have been Ji Hwan Bae, Henry Davis, and Jack Suwinski. Each had some work to do to make the team this season. Each has had high strikeout rates during his career. Bae, in particular, has exhibited a tendency to chase. However, each now has a legitimate shot to make the team.
The following table compares strikeout percentages in the spring games as of Thursday to those of the 2024 season. The table reflects only players who played for the Pirates in 2024 and spring 2025. Thus, a new addition like Tommy Pham, for example, isn’t included. As the saying goes, we’re comparing apples to apples, although this writer never understood why apples can’t also be compared to oranges.
| Player |
SO Pct. Spring 2025 |
SO Pct. 2024 |
Difference |
| Ji Hwan Bae |
17.65 |
29.63 |
-11.98 |
| Joey Bart |
21.05 |
25.89 |
-4.84 |
| Billy Cook |
27.27 |
38.78 |
-11.51 |
| Oneil Cruz |
40.00 |
30.22 |
9.78 |
| Henry Davis |
25.00 |
36.89 |
-11.89 |
| Jason Delay |
40.00 |
0.00 |
40.00 |
| Nick Gonzales |
15.79 |
19.12 |
-3.33 |
| Ke’Bryan Hayes |
11.11 |
18.94 |
-7.83 |
| Isiah Kiner-Falefa |
20.00 |
19.07 |
.93 |
| Andrew McCutchen |
20.00 |
25.83 |
-5.83 |
| Joshua Palacios |
18.18 |
15.38 |
2.80 |
| Liover Peguero |
25.00 |
30.00 |
-5.00 |
| Bryan Reynolds |
23.08 |
22.54 |
.54 |
| Jack Suwinski |
19.44 |
28.52 |
-9.08 |
| Jared Triolo |
22.50 |
26.46 |
-3.96 |
| Alika Williams |
26.67 |
22.92 |
3.75 |
| Nick Yorke |
26.32 |
28.57 |
-2.25 |
April Come She Will
If the trend evinced by the table continues, multiplying the figures in the Difference column by each player’s 2024 plate appearances should give a rough idea of a weighted-average effect on the Pirates’ total projected strikeouts in 2025. (Those calculations were performed but aren’t presented here.) The result is that as a team, the Pirates will strike out 84 fewer times in 2025 compared to 2024.
It may not seem like much, but in 2024, an 84-strikeout decrease would have dropped the Pirates from fourth to 12th in the majors in total strikeouts. Hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Finally, it’s acknowledged that the method used to project an 84-strikeout decrease isn’t perfect. Every Pirate won’t get the same number of plate appearances that he got in 2024. In the spring, at least at the start, hitters should be ahead of the pitchers. We’re looking at a small sample size when we’re looking at spring 2025. I get all that. Nevertheless, if the Pirates are trending toward fewer strikeouts, it can only help their hitting. Whether Hague’s approach is working should be clear by late April.
Photo Credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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