Sunday Pregame News, Notes and Lineups

A very light session with the manager today. We will talk to the general manager a little later so I’ll add some of the highlights from that. But here are the news and notes from Hurdle as well as the lineups.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said that one of the ways the organization measures productive plate appearances is the statistic “pitches per plate appearance”, which is a measure of how many pitches on average a hitter sees when he bats.

The Pirates leader in that category is infielder Jung Ho Kang, who sees an average of 4.2 pitches per game.

And while he does not have enough at bats to qualify for the league leaders in that category, that number would put him in the top six in the National League (Joey Votto is first at 4.34).

“One of the ways, by our measure, you have a quality at bat is when see eight pitches or more,” Hurdle said. “There is nobody in the game with a 5+ per average so that shows how hard it is. You see guys with 4.2, 4.3 but that is about the tipping point, you don’t see a 4.6.

“[Kang] has a really good eye and is usually stubborn with his approach. And there is no hangover effect for him [after a bad swing] which is the sign of a good hitter, a confident hitter.”

Road to Recovery: Corey Hart went on the 15-day disabled list June 24 (retroactive to June 22) with left shoulder impingement but has begun his rehab assignment with Class AAA Indianapolis.

Hart has appeared in three games and has three hits in 12 at bats (.250 Avg) and has two home runs and four RBI and those are all good signs that he is on his way back according to Hurdle.

“We are going to continue to get him games,” Hurdle said. “We will try to get him some DH games, some first base games and then some back-to back-games. He has hit some homers and had some good swings.

“He feels good, he is getting some work, there is no urgency with it, we will take our times with this.”

Polanco sits: The Indians will start a right hander, Danny Salazar, Sunday but Hurdle still opted to sit lefty Gregory Polanco and instead used Josh Harrison in right field while Kang played third.

“We just thought it was a better matchup for us to try to win the game, with Kang at third,” Hurdle said. “[Salazar] is a bit of a reverse split pitcher and I didn’t want to ice Jung Ho by keeping him down too many days in a row.

“But also Polanco is stuck in a little 0-for-9 so we hope to slow him down and try to get him rolling again.”

Tougher market: Hurdle was asked if he thought the addition of the second wild card has changed the timetable for trading players with respect to the trading deadline since now more teams believe they have a chance to make the playoffs.

“I do believe that with the additional opportunity to get into the playoffs, teams are more hesitant,” Hurdle said. “They want to give it more time to wait and see. So you if you want to be one of those teams that go early, you better have some weight in your bag.”

LINEUPS

Pirates

Harrison - RF

Walker - 2B

McCutchen - CF

Marte - LF

Kang - 3B

Alvarez - 1B

Mercer - SS

Stewart - C

Cole - RHP

Indians

Kipnis - 2B

Lindor - SS

Brantley - LF

Santana - 1B

Moss -  RF

Urshela - 3B

Bourn - CF

Perez - C

Salazar - RHP