Whether intentional or not, there is an obvious trend growing within the Pirates system when it comes to their pitchers.
We are seeing more go to a breaking ball heavy approach, and pitchers rely less on getting swing and misses with the fastball.
Roansy Contreras has some of the highest slider usage in the league among starters, Quinn Priester has seen success using his breaking pitches, and even Luis Ortiz has struggled to get swing and misses with the fastball.
One pitcher that doesn’t have an issue with racking up the strikeouts with the fastball/sinker has been Luis Peralta, pitching in Single-A Bradenton for the second straight season.