Diamondbacks Game Preview #54: 6/4 @ Pirates

With the Pirates being outside the NL West, we don’t see them as much as the teams in our division. You won’t be surprised to hear that the Pirate with most PAs against the D-backs is Andrew McCutchen, who has 258, appearing in 58 games against us. Nobody else has passed 200: Jack Wilson hitting exactly that number. McCutchen has hit Arizona pretty well, with a .311 batting average and an .874 OPS. Though among those with 100+ PA, the most successful is future/ex Diamondback Starling Marte, who has a .949 OPS, resulting from a .336 batting average. If we drop the bar to 50 PAs though, the most snake-unfriendly is Josh Bell, with a 1.079 OPS, including five homers in 67 at-bats.

Looking at those currently on the roster though, most of the Pirates appear to be suffering from a case of ophidiophobia. That is - as I’m sure you all know - a fear of snakes. There are only two who have an OPS against the Diamondbacks above .700. Bryan Reynolds is at .770 over 11 games, but since his career OPS is .841, that would actually count as underperforming significantly. The 2022 Pirate who best deserves the name of “Snake Killer” is undoubtedly Ke’Bryan Hayes. In seven games against Arizona so far, he has posted a line of .323/.382/.548 for a .931 OPS, well in excess of his career figure (.775).

Conversely, which D-backs deserve the title of Pirate Hunter? That would be Eduardo Escobar, who has really enjoyed facing Pittsburgh. Over ten games against them, he has driven in 14 runs, by going 19-for-41 with four homers. That’s a triple-slash of .463/.511/1.000 - yes, he clocked his slugging percentage - for a 1.511 OPS. That’s 269 points better than the next D-back (min 25 PA), Devon White. The rest of the top five is mostly quite surprising too: Jon Jay, Mark Grace and... Augie Ojeda? All of them have OPS of better than 1.110 against the Pirates. Among the current D-backs, the Freight Train leads the way (and is third for PA vs. Pittsburgh with 176). He has hit .323 with six HR, for a .949 OPS. Christian Walker is at .889.