First Pitch Matchups
1st Pitch for Saturday, August 29, 2026
New here?How to Read This Page
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How to Read This Page
Tiers
HIGHStrong first-pitch contact matchups (★)
MEDModerate matchups
LOWBottom tier
Leaderboard shows HIGH tier only. The ★ marker flags batters with strong matchup-specific signals.
Outcome Columns
Percentages reflect what happens on the first pitch when the batter swings. Grayed cells = sample too small.
Swing%How often the batter swings at the 1st pitch.
Out/Other%1st pitches that end the AB as a non-hit batted ball — outs, sac flies/bunts, fielders choice, errors.
1B%1st pitches that result in a single.
XBH%1st pitches that result in a double, triple, or home run.
Reading the Signals
— combinations to look for▶
HIGH tier + High XBH%First-pitch power angle. Likely to put it in play AND extra bases when he does.
HIGH tier + Low Swing%Patient HIGH-tier matchup. Rarely swings but produces when he does.
LOW tierFirst-pitch no-contact candidate. The pitcher is likely to get ahead with a called strike or whiff.
Dash (—) on ratesFewer than 5 1st-pitch PAs in the active filter slice — too small to display reliably. Try toggling Year or Hand to see more data.
Filters
YEAR
HAND
Filter by Game
Top HIGH-tier matchups across the slate
1
NYY @ 
BOS12:05 PMHIGH
NYY @ BOS12:05 PMBATTERAli Sanchez(R)★
VSJake Bennett(LHP)
SWING38%
OUT9%
1B3%
XBH0%
2
LAA @ 
PHI9:07 PMHIGH
LAA @ PHI9:07 PMBATTERBryce Teodosio(R)★
VSCristopher Sánchez(LHP)
SWING56%
OUT12%
1B5%
XBH2%
About the MLB 1st Pitch board
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How each starting pitcher opens an at-bat, and which hitters do damage on the first pitch they see. It isolates a single moment of the plate appearance where tendencies are unusually stable and unusually exploitable.
How to read it
Pitcher columns describe how often a starter throws a strike to open, what he opens with, and what hitters have done with it. Hitter columns describe swing rate on the first pitch and the quality of contact when they do swing. A pitcher who lives in the zone early paired with a hitter who ambushes first pitches is the pattern the board exists to surface.