Fastball, up?

A couple of weeks ago, I listened to a podcast show. In the show, a pitcher was interviewed by the host. That pitcher indicated that his four-seam fastball is a weapon and, in particular, it’s quite effective to locate his four-seamer in the top.

The conversation between that pitcher and the host was indeed a great one. After listening to the podcast show, I was exploring the statcast website, trying to see which pitchers frequently located four-seamers in the top of the strike zone.

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Last year, the 2021 AL Cy Young award winner Robbie Ray threw 1866 four-seam fastballs, most among MLB pitchers. Among those four-seamers, Ray located his four-seamer 428 times in the top of the strike zone. Locating his four-seamer in the top of the strike zone is surely a good idea because opponents only batted .190 when Ray’s four-seamer in the upper third. During the regular season, batting average against Ray’s four-seamer was .222. Tyler Mahle is another pitcher who heavily relied on his four-seamer in 2021. Mahle threw 1697 four-seam fastballs last season. Mahle located his four-seamer in the top of the strike zone nearly 400 times last year and opponents had a batting average of .233 against Mahle’s four-seamer in the upper third. Carlos Rodon had a great 2021 season. He posted a 2.37 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP over 132.2 innings. Additionally, he was selected to the All-Star game for the first time in his career. During the regular season, Rodon used his four-seamer 58.7% of the time and opponents hit only .199 against his four-seam fastball. Moreover, he located his four-seamer 330 times in the upper third and opponents only batted .190. It’s worth mentioning that the average velocity of his four-seam fastball increased from 92.8 mph (2020) to 95.4 mph (2021). When it comes to four-seam fastball, we can’t ignore Gerrit Cole. The Yankees’ ace used his four-seamer 47.1% of the time last year and the average pitch velocity of Cole’s four-seamer was 97.7 mph. Cole located his four-seam fastballs in the top of the strike zone 300+ times in 2021 and opponents only batted .218. Furthermore, Gerrit Cole’s teammate Jameson Taillon also threw his four-seamer in the upper third more than 300 times last year and opponents hit .222. During the regular season, batting average against Taillon’s four-seam fastball was .200. Finally, the average velocity of Rich Hill’s four-seamer was below 90 mph and throwing a four-seam fastball in the upper third didn’t seem to be a good idea because opponents batted over .280. However, back in 2017, opponents only hit .209 when Rich Hill located his four-seamer in the top of the strike zone. Additionally, opponents only hit .165 when Walker Buehler located his four-seamer in the top of the strike zone. Robbie Ray inked a 5-year contract with the Mariners and Carlos Rodon signed a 2-year deal with the Giants. These two southpaws did successfully use the top of the strike zone well with their four-seam fastballs. It will be important to see whether they will see good outcomes with fastballs in the top of the strike zone. Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon each located their four-seamers in the upper third more than 300 times last year. Are we going to see another pitcher of the Yankees do the same this season?