Sinker (baseball)

In baseball, a sinker or sinking fastball is a type of fastball pitch which has significant downward and horizontal movement and is known for inducing ground balls.[1] Pitchers who use the sinker tend to rely on it heavily and do not need to change pitch speeds as much as other pitchers do because the sinking action induces weak bat contact. Other pitchers normally change pitch speeds to achieve this effect.[2][cited link refers to one analysts opinion] The sinker is much more often used by right-handed pitchers than left-handed pitchers.

History

Scott Feldman

Before the 1950s, pitchers did not know what caused their pitches to sink or "hop." They regarded either ability as a "gift from heaven." Bill James cites Curt Simmons as the first pitcher to be able to throw both sinkers and rising fastballs, apparently indicating that it was not known how to make a pitch sink and how to make one hop.[1]

Current Major League pitchers

Dellin Betances, Zach Britton, Chris Heston, Scott Feldman, Charlie Morton, Joel Piñeiro, Jake Westbrook, Roberto Hernández, Aaron Cook, Chien-Ming Wang, Tim Hudson, Mike Pelfrey, Jon Garland, Zach Miner, Brad Bergesen, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Kendrick, Chris Volstad, Jim Johnson, Rick Porcello, Ronald Belisario, Kendall Graveman, Ryan Mattheus, Sonny Gray, Felix Hernandez, Seth Maness, Jeurys Familia, Justin Masterson, Tanner Roark, and Ryan Webb are current major league players who rely heavily on the sinker.

Throwing mechanics

One method of throwing the sinker is to simply grip the baseball along the two seams and throw it similar to a fastball. Some pitchers use a downward motion on their wrist when throwing it. The pitcher's palm turns to the right at release for a right handed pitcher. This causes a sharper sink, but also has a greater risk of a wild pitch. This wrist movement is also called pronation.

Many sinker ball pitchers today turn the inside of the ball over just before releasing the ball, combined with slightly increasing the pressure on the ball with the index finger ("press inside") which creates a tilted sidespin motion that causes horizontal movement.[1]

Effects on the batter

The sinker drops 3 to 6 inches more than a typical two-seam fastball which causes batters to hit ground balls more often than other fastballs, mostly due to the tilted sidespin on the ball.[1] Horizontal movement also occurs when sinkers are thrown.[2] Sinkerball pitchers can often get called strikes and swinging strikes on the pitch, so sinkerball pitches can obtain large strikeout totals.[citation needed]

Notable sinkerballers

Jason Marquis

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 John Walsh. "In Search of the Sinker". The Hardball Times.
  2. 1 2 Joe P. Sheehan. "That Sinking Feeling". Baseball Analysts.
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