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Pirates pitcher Jose Quintana throws his first pitch against the Cubs in the first inning, Tuesday, April 12, 2022, at PNC Park.
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Off The Bat: Numbers that have defined the Pirates' season thus far

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Off The Bat: Numbers that have defined the Pirates' season thus far

LOS ANGELES — Arguably more than any other sport, the stories of a baseball game, series or season are able to be told through numbers. It’s black and white, start and stop. You hit the ball or you don’t. It either falls or gets caught.

Some prefer advanced numbers, others more traditional. We’re not going to get overly fancy here — sorry Derek Shelton and the Pirates — but more than a quarter of the way through the season, I thought it would be fun to pick a dozen numbers to describe what we’ve seen so far.

22: Wins out of 50 games, at least 4-5 more than any sane person thought the Pirates would have by this point. Related and also hilarious, the Pirates are 0-6 against the Brewers ... but 22-22 against everyone else. Clearly time for them to go back to the American League. It’s unclear as of this writing whether the Dodgers would consider shifting to more of a Bob Nutting business model.

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9: Saves for David Bednar, who also has a 1.38 ERA. Three of those nine required six outs. Meanwhile, only three National League relievers have logged more than Bednar’s 26 innings entering play Thursday. “He’s built like an ox,” Shelton said after Bednar threw 50 pitches on Monday.

The Pittsburgh Pirates' Bryan Reynolds, right, is congratulated by Ke'Bryan Hayes after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday
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If the first half ended now, Bednar would represent the Pirates at the MLB All-Star Game. He’s become one of their most recognizable players, along with Bryan Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes. The F-bomb-dropping closer is also someone they will look to extend, not trade.

2: Home runs for Yoshi Tsutsugo, a player the Pirates paid $4 million this offseason to function as their cleanup hitter, essentially choosing him over Colin Moran. Currently out with a lumbar muscle strain, Tsutsugo will likely get a second chance when he’s healthy, but the leash should be short. The move has been a huge disappointment.

180: Runs scored for the Pirates, 29th in MLB and last in the National League as of Thursday morning. The Dodgers sweep was encouraging and the Pirates have certainly been banged up, but they need more from the offense. An MLB-low .205 average with runners in scoring position hasn’t helped.

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2.32: ERA for Jose Quintana, who has been everything the Pirates had hoped for and more when they signed him for $2 million this past offseason. Great veteran. Seems to really like it here. Teammates love him. Quintana (1.33) also had the lowest ERA in the National League in May. He’s right behind Bednar at this point for first-half MVP.

5: Number of catchers used this season, which includes Roberto Perez, Andrew Knapp, Michael Perez, Tyler Heineman and Josh VanMeter. Austin Romine is available. Could he make six? There’s also the possibility of Jamie Ritchie or Carter Bins coming up from Class AAA and maybe, just maybe, a long-shot cameo from Henry Davis.

0: Speaking of long shots, that’s the number of at-bats for Oneil Cruz and Mason Martin, a point of contention that has rankled the fan base for much of this season. Cruz and Martin aren’t perfect, obviously, but they’ve been really good at various points with Class AAA Indianapolis. Let’s go ahead and hope it’ll change soon.

40: Errors committed by the Pirates, the third-most in MLB and a change considering last year they had the second-fewest. Also strange has been seeing Hayes among the league leaders with seven. The Hayes stuff is a fluke, but this may be the cost of doing business while fielding a younger team. When everyone was healthy, the Pirates did feature a terrific defensive outfield with Reynolds, Ben Gamel and Jake Marisnick.

The Pirates' Tyler Anderson pitches against the White Sox in the first inning Tuesday, June 22, 2021, at PNC Park on the North Shore.
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.488: That’s Michael Chavis’ slugging percentage. This part definitely hasn’t been talked about enough, as he’s done quite well with regular playing time. Second on the team in RBIs (18). Plays solid defense. Hitting .288. Has become a really solid everyday player.

.727: That’s the current OPS for Reynolds, who was about 100 points lower a month ago. Reynolds’ early-season funk was as frustrating for him as it was mystifying for everyone else, but it certainly looks like he’s on the other side of that now, gaining confidence with every game. “I’m feeling a lot better,” Reynolds said Wednesday.

If/when this continues, look out. Reynolds is due a massive reversion to the mean. His numbers a month from now should look much different.

6: Players who’ve made their MLB debuts: Diego Castillo, Jack Suwinski, Beau Sulser, Cam Alldred, Yerry De Los Santos and Cal Mitchell. Should also see Martin, Travis Swaggerty, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Ji-Hwan Bae and others join that list. The youthful enthusiasm has been really fun to watch.

5.77: Mitch Keller’s ERA, for the first time in a long time, sits below his career mark. There have been some good outings. There have also been some bad ones and a move to the bullpen. There’s a good chance Keller eventually figures it out, but will the Pirates stick with him long enough for that to happen here?

THREE UP

• The Pirates are 22-28 despite a lousy April from their starting pitchers and a fraction of what they expected from Keller, Reynolds and Tsutsugo. Obviously the players deserve plenty of credit for punching above their weight. But so does manager Derek Shelton and his staff. Preparation. Delegation. Doing things differently. Belief instilled. Culture created. There’s plenty to praise here.

• Really like Keller toying with a sinker, but it has nothing to do with the pitch or its effectiveness. He’s gone at this thing so many different ways. The sinker — something he’s never thrown before — provides an interesting distraction or a possible dose of perspective for someone who certainly seemed to be stuck in a rut.

• Have watched Daniel Vogelbach this season be relentlessly positive with teammates after tough losses, goof around with coaches’ kids as they scampered through the clubhouse, crack jokes with Shelton and be the life of the party after wins. The more we see, the more impressed I am with how he carries himself. The Pirates have needed that type of personality for years.

THREE DOWN

• I don’t understand what the Pirates are doing at first base — or shortstop, for that matter. Yes, Martin has struck out a lot. He’s also done his job by hitting for power, tying for the third-most extra-base hits in Class AAA (28) as of Saturday morning. Others have received chances without being finished products. Why not here? Let’s see what the kid can do.

• Remember when the Pirates held an open competition for the starting shortstop job between Kevin Newman, Cole Tucker and Erik Gonzalez? Feels like forever ago, no? Now look. Newman may have played his last game with the Pirates. Gonzalez obviously has. And Tucker is in DFA limbo at the moment. Not ideal. Focus now should be Cruz and Liover Peguero.

• Not Pirates-related, but could Josh Donaldson possibly be any more clueless or tone-deaf? Not only referring to Tim Anderson as Jackie Robinson — yep, not even close to comedic material there, bud — but then trying to play the victim card because other Yankees wouldn’t support him? Absolutely absurd. Go live with Trevor Bauer on a remote island somewhere.

ON DECK

• TRADE RETURN: Assuming he’s off the IL (vertigo) in time, old friend Austin Meadows, now a Tiger, returns to Pittsburgh for the first time. The 2013 first-rounder was slashing .267/.362/.347 through 28 games.

• ROGER THAT: Another story out of Detroit has been the MLB debut of Kody Clemens, Roger’s kid. A 26-year-old infielder, the younger Clemens hit .283 with an .844 OPS in 45 games this season with Class AAA Toledo but was hitless in his first nine MLB at-bats.

• JAVIER BYE-EZ: Brutal start for shortstop Javier Baez after signing a six-year, $140 million contract this offseason. The former Cub was hitting just .194 with a .532 OPS through 41 games as of Saturday morning.

• GROUNDED CHUCK: Speaking of old friends, it’s been a tough one for Charlie Morton (5.47 ERA through 10 starts). Opponents are hitting .299 against Morton’s curveball compared to .127 in 2021.

NUMEROLOGY

512: Strikeouts for the Atlanta Braves through 53 games, the most in Major League Baseball. Only recently did Atlanta’s average dip below 10 per game. The Braves are still on pace to set the franchise record with 1,565, far beyond their 1,467 whiffs in 2019.

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published: June 3, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: June 4, 2022, 12:21 p.m.

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