Every week, the Pitcher List team will publish an update to our power rankings, reviewing the biggest risers and fallers of the past seven days. This time, we are previewing each team’s outlook for the upcoming season. As always, the full rankings can be found at the bottom of this article … but where’s the fun in that?
Movin’ On Up
Record: 9-4
Rank change: +5 (22 to 17)
Pittsburgh is currently in second place in the NL Central with a record of 9-4.
On offense, they don’t have much power or speed. They have 12 homers as a team which ranks 2oth in the league, and just four stolen bags which is just two more than the Cubs in dead last. Edward Olivares leads the team with three long balls, however, he’s always been a part-time player and has never had more than 12 in a season. Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds both have two homers.
Reynolds is their best run-generator and has been for the past several years. He currently leads the team in RBIs with 10. Over his five-year career with the Pirates, he has totaled 333 RBIs, which is more than double the amount Ke’Bryan Hayes has in second. Pittsburgh added Rowdy Tellez and Connor Joe this offseason and both have been solid to start the season. Joe has been batting in the lead-off spot and is batting an even .300 on the year.
On the pitching side, Pittsburgh added 33-year-old Martín Pérez and 32-year-old Marco Gonzalez this offseason to boost a rotation that also has Mitch Keller, Bailey Falter, and Jared Jones. Perez has looked great through his first three starts with his new squad. He currently sports a 1.89 ERA, however, his 3.64 xFIP indicates he’s been playing a bit over his head. Keller was an All-Star for the first time last season, but his second half of the year didn’t look quite as good as his first. Falter’s 6.56 xFIP and 2.70 K/9 through just two games doesn’t inspire much confidence. It’s rookie Jared Jones who leads this staff in xFIP at 2.38. Jones was the 44th-overall pick in the 2020 draft and currently has a 12.5 K/9 through his three starts. Their closer David Bednar is a bright spot as well. He finished second in 2023 in saves with 39.
So how has this team been winning games? They did beat up on the lowly Marlins and Nationals in their first two series, but they followed that up by taking two out of three from the Orioles. I think the top of this lineup is solid but the starting rotation has some obvious question marks. The NL Central is one of the weaker divisions in baseball so we could see Pittsburgh stick around at the top for a bit longer.
Hittin’ the Skids
Record: 5-8
Rank change: -6 (8 to 14)
Seattle saw the biggest drop in our rankings from last week. They are currently tied with Oakland and just ahead of the Astros in the standings.
When most people think of the Mariners, they think of Julio Rodríguez, and the fact that their star player is hitting just .196 with zero homers through 13 games is a disappointment. However, JRod also started off last year cold and ended up having one of the hottest hot streaks in baseball history towards the end of the season. He has been striking out at a 32.7% clip though, which is significantly higher than the 25% mark he’s hovered around over the last two seasons. Seattle as a team is striking out at the highest rate in the league at 29.2%.
This team only has four stolen bases on the year and has seen the most production on offense through Mitch Haniger and Dominic Canzone. Haniger is batting .262 with eight RBIs, while Canzone is batting .233 with six RBIs. This team added Jorge Polanco to the mix in the offseason, and so far he has struggled with his new change of scenery. The nine-year Twin is batting just .167 with a 35.2% strikeout rate. This team added two more players in Mitch Garver and Josh Rojas this offseason. I think it’s a wait-and-see approach with this offense. There’s a lot of talent there but they just haven’t been able to click to start the year.
Pitching is a different story for Seattle. We know this team has an excellent pitching staff, they just also haven’t been able to click early in the year. Among the nine starts totaled by Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, and George Kirby, there has been one win. The underlying numbers are there though. Castillo and Gilbert both have xFIPs hovering around 3.o0 and K/9 marks at around 10.00. Give this rotation some more time and they will resemble more of what they looked like last season.
Seattle faces the Cubs and Reds in their next two series. In a 162-game season, it’s easy to react to short-term cold spells, but once this young team filled with many new faces gets a few more games under their belt, they can compete for the top spot of the AL West.