April 12, 2021
This week’s docket has several marquee matchups, but we respect your intelligence enough not to explain why Shane Bieber vs. Lucas Giolito or Yu Darvish vs. Dustin May is worth watching. Instead, turn your attention to three games where the visiting pitcher will return to their old stomping grounds, and don’t gloss over Tuesday night’s game in Atlanta either.
Joe Musgrove is baseball’s hottest pitcher at the moment, and after becoming the first Padres pitcher to throw no-hitter, he’ll try to become the latest ex-Pirates pitcher to make Pittsburgh look silly for having traded him. Musgrove, who Pittsburgh traded to San Diego in January, is looking to join Gerrit Cole and Tyler Glasnow as the latest pitcher to take another leap forward ditching his black and gold threads, and his early-season showing has been superlative. Still only 28, Musgrove was deemed unlikely to help the next good Pirates team (he’s a free agent after the 2022 season), and was traded
In some ways, this list makes a ton of sense. We’re using to seeing Trout and Harper at or near the top of the walk rate leaders list. In other ways, this list is WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?! Over 14 seasons, Cabrera has only posted a double digit walk rate twice. seeing his name second in the current walk rate rankings is just bizarre. Meanwhile, Gurriel has never posted a walk rate higher than 6%! He’s swinging at pitches outside the zone significantly less often than ever before. This is a great sign if there’s any sort of sustainability here. It’s only been 39 plate appearances, but it’s no doubt enough for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. big breakout expecters to already believe they are right to be so bullish.