Battling Bucs : Hitting, Where Are Thou?

The Pirates offense has gotten off to an abysmal start this season. With the exception of McCutchen no one is really hitting well but I decided to take a little deeper look into the numbers to see what exactly have been the team struggles. Below I have listed all 8 Pirates players with more than 10 PA in this short season. I've listed thier wRC+, LD%, GB%, FB%, BB% and K%. The wRC+ stat represents how far above or below a player is compared to league average. League average is 100 and every point above is 1% above league average and every point below is 1% below league average. The LD%, GB% and FB% breaks down how the player is hitting the balls he put in play, whether he hit a line drive, ground ball or fly ball. The K% and BB% are straighforward it is just simply the amount of time the hitter walked or struck out.
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Hitting Well With Good Results
Andrew McCutchen - 121 wRC+, 26.7 LD%, 40.0 GB%, 33.3 FB%, 4.3 BB%, 26.1 K%
Typical Slow Start
Starling Marte - 59 wRC+, 18.8 LD%, 62.5 GB%, 18.8 FB%, 4.2 BB%, 25.0 K%
Clint Barmes - 20 wRC+, 11.1 LD%, 11.1 GB%, 77.8 FB%, 0.0 BB%, 30.8 K%
Hitting Well But Unlucky
Neil Walker - -16 wRC+, 31.3 LD%, 31.3 GB%, 37.5 FB%, 12.5 BB%, 16.7 K%
Showing Good Discipline But Hitting The Ball Weakly
Gaby Sanchez - -7 wRC+, 0.0 LD%, 36.4 GB%, 63.6 FB%, 15.8 BB%, 26.3 K%
Russell Martin - -31 wRC+, 7.7 LD%, 61.5 GB%, 30.8 FB%, 17.6 BB%, 5.9 K%
Hitting the Ball Decently But Not Often
Pedro Alvarez - -60 wRC+, 25.0 LD%, 58.3 GB%, 16.7 FB%, 0.0 BB%, 45.5 K%
Garrett Jones - -28 wRC+, 22.2 LD%, 55.6 GB%, 22.2 FB%, 0.0 BB%, 35.7 K%
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I've grouped the eight players into 5 categories. The first category only includes McCutchen. He is the only Pirates player with a wRC+ above 100. He is not hitting at the level expected from him but his early season numbers are good.
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The Pirates only have two other players that even have a wRC+ that is positive. Marte and Barmes are off to slow starts no doubt but they haven't been completely awful like the rest they have just been merely bad. Marte is putting the ball on the ground more than you'd like to see but as a fast guy it isn't a big deal. Barmes isn't hitting a lot of line drives which is bad but he is ate least hitting fly ball which is a positive although his strike out rate does need to drop.
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Walker is hitting the ball very well. He is showing decent plate discipline, not striking out a ton and has hit a good amount of line drives. Problem is the hits just aren't coming. His problem has been that he has simply been unlucky.
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Martin and Sanchez have the two highest walk rates on the team which is obviously good and Martin has an excellent strike out rate and Sanchez is a little high but not awful. In other words they are showing good plate discipline. Problem is both have a line drive percentage under 10% which will quite simply not cut it. Sanchez has yet to hit a line drive and while his fly ball rate is at least a positive sign he needs to show more.
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Garrett Jones and Pedro Alvarez are hitting the ball decently when they make contact. Line drive rates between 20 and 25 percent are perfectly fine. However the problem is these two players are striking out in more than 35% of their plate appearances. The contact they are making thus far this season isn't great but it would be perfectly acceptable if they managed to put more balls in play.
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So there you have it a break down of the Pirates 8 regular hitters. One is doing well, two are off to regular slow starts, one is hitting well but getting unlucky, two are are showing good discipline but making poor contact and two are making decent contact but not doing so often enough. Its a mix bag that is bound to get better over time but for now it makes for a dreadful offense.