Texas @ Pittsburgh picks

Oneil Cruz projects as the 7th-best home run batter in the game, per the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Oneil Cruz is penciled in 1st in the batting order in today's game.. Oneil Cruz will hold the platoon advantage over Jacob deGrom in today's game.. Oneil Cruz will benefit from the home field advantage in today's matchup, which should bolster all of his stats.. Oneil Cruz has made sizeable strides with his Barrel%, bettering his 15.7% rate last season to 23.6% this season.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Spencer Horwitz in the 75th percentile when it comes to his batting average talent.. Spencer Horwitz is penciled in 4th on the lineup card in this game.. PNC Park sits at the 6th-highest elevation among all major league stadiums. High elevation usually leads (as a rule of thumb) to more offense.. Spencer Horwitz will hold the platoon advantage over Jacob deGrom today.. Spencer Horwitz will possess the home field advantage in today's matchup, which figures to boost all of his stats.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Wyatt Langford in the 96th percentile when it comes to his overall offensive talent.. Wyatt Langford is projected to hit 2nd in the batting order in this game.. PNC Park sits at the 6th-highest elevation among all major league stadiums. High elevation usually leads (as a rule of thumb) to more offense.. The leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimates Wyatt Langford's true offensive skill to be a .358, indicating that he has had bad variance on his side this year given the .033 deviation between that mark and his actual .325 wOBA.. Placing in the 87th percentile for power, Wyatt Langford has hit 29.7 home runs per 600 plate appearances this year.

When estimating his overall offensive talent, Andrew McCutchen ranks in the 86th percentile according to the leading projections (THE BAT X).. Andrew McCutchen is projected to bat 2nd in the batting order in this game.. PNC Park sits at the 6th-highest elevation among all major league stadiums. High elevation usually leads (as a rule of thumb) to more offense.. Home field advantage generally boosts hitter metrics across the board, and Andrew McCutchen will hold that advantage today.. Andrew McCutchen has seen a sizeable gain in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 96-mph average to last year's 93-mph average.

Jake Burger projects as the 19th-best home run batter in the league, per the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Jake Burger has been unlucky this year, compiling a .282 wOBA despite the leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimating his true talent level to be .341 — a .059 disparity.. Based on Statcast data, Jake Burger grades out in the 77th percentile for power via the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s version of Expected Home Runs per 600 plate appearances this year at 23.500.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Adolis Garcia in the 94th percentile when estimating his home run ability.. Adolis Garcia is projected to bat 5th in the lineup in this game.. There has been a significant improvement in Adolis Garcia's launch angle from last year's 14.8° to 20.4° this season.. Adolis Garcia's ability to hit the ball at a BABIP-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has improved of late, rising from 37.3% on the season to 66.7% over the last 7 days.. Based on Statcast metrics, the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s version of Expected HR per 600 plate appearances (23.9) implies that Adolis Garcia has suffered from bad luck this year with his 17.6 actual HR/600.

Josh Jung's BABIP ability is projected in the 91st percentile by the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Josh Jung's launch angle recently (41.7° over the past week) is significantly higher than his 13.6° seasonal mark.. Josh Jung's ability to hit the ball at a HR-optimizing launch angle (between 23° and 34°) has improved from last season to this one, increasing from 16.8% to 20.4%.. Based on Statcast data, the leading projection system (THE BAT X)'s version of Expected wOBA (.321) may lead us to conclude that Josh Jung has experienced some negative variance this year with his .302 actual wOBA.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been the 2nd-unluckiest offense in Major League Baseball this year, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X), and are likely to hit better in future games. It is scheduled that we will see a Huge Hitters Umpire (Mark Wegner) in charge of the strike zone in this game.. The #3 field in the majors for boosting BABIP, per the leading projection system (THE BAT), is PNC Park.. PNC Park sits at the 6th-highest elevation among all major league stadiums. High elevation usually leads (as a rule of thumb) to more offense.. Jacob deGrom will be at a disadvantage playing away from home in today's matchup.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Wyatt Langford in the 96th percentile when it comes to his overall offensive talent.. Wyatt Langford is projected to hit 2nd in the batting order in this game.. PNC Park sits at the 6th-highest elevation among all major league stadiums. High elevation usually leads (as a rule of thumb) to more offense.. The leading projection system (THE BAT X) estimates Wyatt Langford's true offensive skill to be a .358, indicating that he has had bad variance on his side this year given the .033 deviation between that mark and his actual .325 wOBA.. Placing in the 87th percentile for power, Wyatt Langford has hit 29.7 home runs per 600 plate appearances this year.

Oneil Cruz projects as the 7th-best home run batter in the game, per the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Oneil Cruz is penciled in 1st in the batting order in today's game.. Oneil Cruz will hold the platoon advantage over Jacob deGrom in today's game.. Oneil Cruz will benefit from the home field advantage in today's matchup, which should bolster all of his stats.. Oneil Cruz has made sizeable strides with his Barrel%, bettering his 15.7% rate last season to 23.6% this season.