Pittsburgh @ Milwaukee picks

Not only do the Brewers possess the pitching advantage, but they also boast the hitting edge. Milwaukee outranks Pittsburgh in runs scored per game, hits per game, slugging percentage, and OPS.

The Pirates are last in the NL in OPS (.643) and runs per game (3.28) with those numbers dropping to .609 and 3.10 on the road. They'll have a tough time against Freddy Peralta who has a 2.76 ERA with an OBA of .200. The Buccos respond with southpaw Andrew Heaney who has been solid in the first inning where has a 3.00 ERA with a 1.07 WHIP. The Brewers struggle to hit lefties (slugging .363) and have been slow starters, ranking 28th in the majors in run first inning percentage (24.1%).

As it relates to his overall offensive ability, Andrew McCutchen ranks in the 84th percentile according to the leading projections (THE BAT X).. Andrew McCutchen is penciled in 2nd in the batting order in today's game.. American Family Field has the 5th-shortest average fence height in Major League Baseball.. Built 602 feet above sea level, American Family Field has the 8th-highest altitude among all stadiums, which generally leads to higher offensive output.. Andrew McCutchen hits a high percentage of his flyballs to center field (39% — 87th percentile) and is a great match for the park considering he'll be hitting towards MLB's 8th-shallowest CF fences today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Bryan Reynolds in the 95th percentile as it relates to his BABIP talent.. Bryan Reynolds is projected to bat 3rd in the lineup in today's game.. The 8th-shallowest CF dimensions in the league are found in American Family Field.. American Family Field has the 5th-shortest average fence height in Major League Baseball.. As a switch-hitter who is best from the 0 side of the dish, Bryan Reynolds will get to bat from his good side against Freddy Peralta in this game.

Oneil Cruz projects as the 7th-best home run hitter in the majors, via the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Oneil Cruz is projected to bat 1st in the batting order in today's game.. American Family Field has the 5th-shortest average fence height in Major League Baseball.. Built 602 feet above sea level, American Family Field has the 8th-highest altitude among all stadiums, which generally leads to higher offensive output.. Oneil Cruz will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Freddy Peralta today.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Christian Yelich as the 12th-best hitter in the league as it relates to his BABIP skill.. Christian Yelich is penciled in 3rd on the lineup card in this matchup.. The 8th-shallowest CF dimensions in the league are found in American Family Field.. American Family Field has the 5th-shortest average fence height in Major League Baseball.. Christian Yelich has a good chance to have the upper hand against every reliever from start to finish, since the bullpen of the Pittsburgh Pirates has just 1 same-handed RP.

When estimating his overall offensive skill, William Contreras ranks in the 95th percentile according to the leading projections (THE BAT X).. William Contreras is projected to bat 4th in the batting order today.. American Family Field has the 5th-shortest average fence height in Major League Baseball.. Built 602 feet above sea level, American Family Field has the 8th-highest altitude among all stadiums, which generally leads to higher offensive output.. High humidity has a small but significant correlation with more offense (and fewer strikeouts), and the weather report forecasts the 2nd-highest humidity on the slate today at 77%.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Henry Davis in the 77th percentile when it comes to his home run skill.. The 8th-shallowest CF dimensions in the league are found in American Family Field.. American Family Field has the 5th-shortest average fence height in Major League Baseball.. Henry Davis has made sizeable improvements with his Barrel% in recent games, bettering his 12.2% seasonal rate to 20% in the past two weeks.. Henry Davis has been hot in recent games, raising his seasonal exit velocity of 86.3-mph to 93.4-mph in the past two weeks' worth of games.

Oneil Cruz projects as the 7th-best home run hitter in the majors, via the leading projection system (THE BAT X).. Oneil Cruz is projected to bat 1st in the batting order in today's game.. American Family Field has the 5th-shortest average fence height in Major League Baseball.. Built 602 feet above sea level, American Family Field has the 8th-highest altitude among all stadiums, which generally leads to higher offensive output.. Oneil Cruz will receive the benefit of the platoon advantage against Freddy Peralta today.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been the 2nd-unluckiest offense in the majors this year, according to the leading projection system (THE BAT X), and are likely to perform better the rest of the season. It is likely that we will see a Hitters Umpire (Ryan Wills) behind the plate in today's game.. The 8th-shallowest CF dimensions in the league are found in American Family Field.. American Family Field has the 5th-shortest average fence height in Major League Baseball.. Given that groundball pitchers are hit hardest by flyball hitters, Freddy Peralta (37.9% GB% via the leading projection system, THE BAT) will be a bit disadvantaged in this game with 3 FB hitters in Pittsburgh's projected lineup.

The leading projection system (THE BAT X) projects Rhys Hoskins in the 5th percentile when assessing his BABIP ability.. The #2 stadium in the league for suppressing offensive stats, via the leading projection system (THE BAT), is American Family Field.. Extreme flyball bats like Rhys Hoskins tend to perform worse against extreme flyball pitchers like Andrew Heaney.. The Pittsburgh Pirates infield defense profiles as the best among every team today.. Rhys Hoskins's ability to hit the ball at a base hit-maximizing launch angle (between -4° and 26°) has declined lately, decreasing from 41.5% on the season to 34.6% over the last 14 days.

American Family Field has the 5th-shortest average fence height in Major League Baseball.. Built 602 feet above sea level, American Family Field has the 8th-highest altitude among all stadiums, which generally leads to higher offensive output.. Extreme groundball hitters like Ke'Bryan Hayes tend to be more successful against extreme flyball pitchers like Freddy Peralta.. Ke'Bryan Hayes has seen a big improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs recently; just compare his 96.5-mph average over the last two weeks to his seasonal mark of 91.3-mph.. There has been a significant improvement in Ke'Bryan Hayes's launch angle from last season's 4.7° to 8.9° this season.