Bucs aiming to get back to ground-ball basics

PITTSBURGH — As the Pirates evaluate what went wrong this year and identify where they can improve next season, they will start from the ground up.

That’s true in a symbolic sense, as Pittsburgh’s front office is poring over everything that led to a disappointing 78-83 campaign. But it’s also literal, a product of the Pirates pitching staff’s dip in ground-ball rate.

The Pirates led all clubs with a 51.1 percent ground-ball rate from 2013-15, one of their biggest strengths as they made the postseason three straight years and posted the Majors’ second-lowest ERA during that stretch. They induced grounders at a 46.9 percent clip this year, tied for third in the Majors but still a noticeable dropoff.

“I do think it’s something that we’re going to keep as one of our cornerstones,” manager Clint Hurdle said.

Some of this year’s change was by design. Most of the league has developed a similar affinity for ground-ball pitchers, making those arms (and their sinking, two-seam fastballs) more difficult to acquire. The Pirates attempted to adjust accordingly.

“We tried some outliers this year to attack it a different way,” Hurdle said.

Those outliers included new acquisitions. Fly-ball pitchers Neftali Feliz …

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