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The slider was all the rage for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2018. Will the curveball take center stage next year?
The Pittsburgh Pirates ranked 24th out of the 30 MLB clubs in curveball usage by percentage last season.
Despite this, the club had the third best wOBA on the pitch with a .219 clip.
Having acquired Keone Kela and his nasty curveball at the deadline, adding a curve to Chris Archer’s arsenal and signing Jordan Lyles, the club might be gearing up to feature the bender a bit more in 2019. Certainly they have some arms that can use the pitch effectively, as seen in this infographic:
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