Two years ago, the sweeper took over Major League Baseball. Pitchers were caravaning down to Driveline to develop a looping off-speed pitch that buckled hitters’ knees.
This year, the sinker is making a triumphant return.
“The sinker has come back,” Minnesota Twins pitching coach Pete Maki said during spring training. “It’s not a secret.”
The sinker isn’t innovative like the sweeper; pitchers have thrown it for a long time. It’s a two-seam fastball that complements the four-seamer pitchers throw straight and with high velocity.
“This little sinker, I’m just throwing it like a fastball and it’s doing its thing,” David Festa said this spring. “That’s why I’m able to learn that part of it so far. I just need to do a better job of commanding it.”
MLB’s best hitters can time up a fastball, even when pitchers throw it at 95 to 100 mph, so they need off-speed pitches to keep opposing batters off-balance. Some use cut-fastballs, sliders, and changeups, pitches that appear to be fastballs but break away at the last second.
Sinkers have a similar effect, breaking with arm-side action that gets in on right-handed hitters’ hands and tails away from lefties. It complements his four-seam fastball, a slider that moves away from righties, and a changeup that fades away from lefties.
About seven years ago, pitchers started throwing fastballs at the top of the strike zone. It was a countermeasure to hitters who were hitting balls with steeper launch angles to smash more home runs. Joe Ryan does this effectively, throwing his four-seamer up in the zone and using his off-speed stuff to keep batters from timing up his fastball.
Festa added the sinker to give himself “fastball versatility,” as Maki calls it. Many pitchers are adding a sinker or cutter to keep hitters from teeing off on their fastball when they identify it early.
“We were trying to get carry,” Maki explained. “The hitters have adjusted over time. There are just more guys every year identifying it, identifying what is a ball, and not swinging when it’s just a ball above the zone. They’ve gotten better at it over the years and getting flatter [swings] to the top of the zone.”
Last year, opposing batters hit .304 (.544 slugging) off Festa’s four-seamer, compared to .207/.315 on his slider and .238/.463 on his changeup. The issue is he threw the four-seamer 40.2% of the time, compared to 31.8% sliders and 28.0% changeup.
No pitcher can survive when hitters are capitalizing on their most frequent offering.
Festa had experimented with a curveball in the minors, but ditched it in favor of the sinker this spring. He’s slowly added it to his pitch mix. Festa had only thrown 33 sinkers in five starts coming off his June 11 start, where he held the Texas Rangers to three hits and two runs in 6.0 innings.
“I would have probably thrown more, honestly, but the matchup said maybe not so much,” he said after the Texas start. “I think I got two or three quick ground balls with that, which is big for me. It’s something we talked about all offseason, going into spring training, for the sinker gets me some quick outs. And it did today. That ultimately allows me to go six innings.”
That start was important for Festa. In his first three starts, he had held opposing hitters to three runs on 12 hits across 13.0 innings (1.38 ERA). However, he gave up six hits and eight runs in 3.2 innings against the Athletics in West Sacramento, and his ERA spiked to 5.40.
Festa bounced back after the Texas start and began throwing more sinkers. He has thrown 97 sinkers in ten starts this year. However, at 12.1%, it remains his least frequent offering. Festa throws his four-seamer 31.8% of the time, his changeup 28.8%, and his slider 27.2%.
He trusts the shape of his sinker and that he’ll throw it correctly. The next step for Festa is knowing when to throw it. Batters are hitting .345/.569 off his four-seamer, and .333/.333 off his sinker, compared to .109/.236 on his changeup and .234/.383 on his slider.
Festa’s sinker is still a work in progress. However, he feels it allows him to throw fewer pitches per at-bat because it creates weak contact, allowing him to go further into games. Eventually, he hopes it keeps hitters off his fastball.
Sometimes, the old is the new again. The sinker is back, and Festa is joining the latest trend. He’s hoping that once he learns to sequence the sinker, it will allow him to regularly go deep into games for a team that believes he can eventually become a rotation staple.
