Baseball is a unique sport in more ways than one. For a team to be successful, it takes camaraderie and buy-in to successfully reach a common goal. It is also impossible for this to happen without individual success.
We often compare a pitcher and hitter to a ‘cat and mouse,’ or a chess match where one is trying to out-smart the other. We have some pitcher/hitter matchups to be on the lookout for today. Let’s take a look at the three most intriguing matchups on Friday’s slate.
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Germán Márquez vs. Manny Machado
The Colorado Rockies will start their weekend in San Diego to take on the Padres. Germán Márquez will have the tall order of stalling the Padres offense and third baseman Manny Machado will be one of his biggest concerns.
Machado has 34 plate appearances against Márquez in his career. He has gone down on strikes eight times, but otherwise has put up fantastic numbers. Machado is 12-for-29 against Márquez with 10 singles, a double and a homer. The San Diego slugger has also drawn three walks against the Colorado starter. Look for Machado to be the spark in the Padres offense on Friday.
Marcus Stroman vs. Willy Adames
New York Yankees fans really preferred Marcus Stroman to start the 2025 season wearing a different uniform. Even after actively shopping the right-hander, the Yankees could not finalize a trade and Stroman stayed in the Bronx. He is making too much money to not play so Aaron Boone will give him the nod on Friday. Yankees fans could be calling for his departure yet again after he faces someone who has had major success against him in the past.
Stroman will face the San Francisco Giants and Willy Adames at Yankee Stadium on Friday night. Adames is 9 for 19 against Stroman in his career with six singles, a double and two long balls. Facing Stroman in a hitter’s park, we could see Adames add to that home run total on Friday.
Tanner Bibee vs. Vinnie Pasquantino
Perhaps the most underrated and intriguing matchup of the day will take place in the Kansas City Royals vs. Cleveland Guardians game. Tanner Bibee will take the ball for the Guardians and he will face someone who is quickly becoming his worst nightmare.
Vinnie Pasquantino has only faced Bibee 10 times. Over those 10 matchups, Pasquantino has seven hits and has unbelievably hit for the cycle against Bibee. He has three singles, a double, a triple, and two home runs when facing the Cleveland hurler. Having this level of success in a limited amount of plate appearances against someone at the big league level is unheard of. It will be interesting to see if Pasquantino can keep up his video game numbers against Bibee on Friday.