This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf’s Pirates Beat publication. To learn the complete publication, click on right here. And subscribe to get it recurrently in your inbox.
Ever for the reason that Pirates traded Josh Bell within the winter of 2020, the group has struggled to discover a everlasting answer at first base. They went to a veteran on the place for 4 straight seasons (Colin Moran in 2021, Yoshi Tsutsugo in ’22, Carlos Santana in ’23 and Rowdy Tellez in ’24), and unsurprisingly, the outcomes have been poor total.
They’ll have one other new first baseman subsequent season, they usually’re hoping this isn’t only a one-year rental, however fairly a long-term answer for the place. On the Winter Conferences, the Pirates acquired Spencer Horwitz from the Guardians in change for Luis Ortiz and two Minor League pitchers.
“General, an excellent pickup that sort of helps us lengthen our lineup,” supervisor Derek Shelton stated of Horwitz on the Winter Conferences. “We got here into the offseason saying that we wanted to enhance our offense, and I believe we’ve got.”
Horwitz hasn’t fairly cracked a full 12 months of service time but, however had a powerful displaying final season for the Blue Jays, slashing .265/.357/.433 with 12 residence runs and 40 RBIs over 381 plate appearances. He did have some hassle with lefty pitchers and is inexperienced, however there are many explanation why the Pirates have been keen to surrender a haul to choose up the younger infielder.
Right here’s a take a look at three of these causes.
1. He hits breaking pitches.
It’s a breaking ball league, and few hitters actually excel towards sliders and curveballs anymore. The MLB batting common towards breaking pitches was simply .220 final season with a .369 slugging proportion, and hitters whiffed 32.7 p.c of the time. It’s why so many pitchers are opting to pitch off of their breaking stuff fairly than their fastball if it could possibly get good outcomes.
It’s regular for a rookie to wrestle towards breaking pitches, however Horwitz did fairly nicely final season. Within the Majors, he hit .256 with a .512 slugging proportion towards breaking balls (with anticipated stats that principally match that manufacturing), and he whiffed simply 21.7 p.c of the time. The pattern measurement was on the small aspect — solely 98 plate appearances — however he hit .313 towards breaking balls in Triple-A final 12 months too.
Horwitz has some traits that counsel he can proceed to do nicely towards breaking pitches. His chase (25.7%) and whiff charges (19.4%) are a lot better than common, displaying he has an excellent really feel for the strike zone and may get the bat to the ball. That results in a low strikeout fee (18.4%) and a excessive stroll fee (11%).
2. He squares up the baseball.
Horwitz doesn’t swing the quickest bat or generate the toughest of exit velocities (an 88.2 mph common), however he posted robust anticipated stats and peripherals as a result of he’s capable of join with the candy spot of the bat.
Baseball Savant registered his squared-up fee (or producing a near peak exit velocity for a swing pace) at 27.3 p.c. For reference, the one Pirate final 12 months with the next squared-up fee was Isiah Kiner-Falefa (35.7%), with Bryan Reynolds proper behind him at 26.7 p.c.
Discuss of launch angles can draw eyerolls at instances, however Horwitz discovered the candy spot 37.4 p.c of the time final season. Reynolds did so 37.5 p.c of the time. Reynolds swings a quicker bat, however he’s far more than that. He’s a sound hitter with some nice swing traits. Outcomes sensible, Horwitz shares lots of these traits with Reynolds.
Horwitz has posted a double-digit stroll fee at almost each cease of his profession, from Rookie ball to the Main Leagues. His on-base proportion within the Minor Leagues has been at the least .391 yearly since 2021.
And in context of the group he’s becoming a member of, his .357 on-base proportion would have been the very best on the Pirates final season.
We don’t know the place Horwitz would slide into Shelton’s lineup, however there’s a case to be made that he ought to bat leadoff. He most likely isn’t going to hit for 20 or 30 residence runs, so why not put him up prime forward of hitters who do have pop, like Reynolds and Oneil Cruz?
If he bats later within the order, he can nonetheless lengthen the lineup, however Horwitz isn’t the prototypical first baseman that the sport celebrated for many years. He isn’t a 30-homer, 100-RBI man, however he nonetheless creates runs. The query turns into, how will the Pirates make the most of a hitter like that of their lineup?
