Fewer fastballs?

A few days ago, I watched a clip on Netflix. A pitching coach indicated about fastball usage to his pitchers. He talked about using fewer fastballs.

 

That conversation was very interesting. About watching the clip, I was truly curious about the fastball usage in the majors. To understand a little bit more, I decided to check on the statcast website.

 

Firstly, let’s look at the usage of fastballs. Back in 2008, pitchers in the majors used fastballs 62.1% of the time. In 2009 and 2010, the usage of fastballs went up to over 63%. However, the usage of fastballs dropped to 62.6% in 2011. From 2011 to 2015, there wasn’t much difference in usage of fastballs in the majors. Nonetheless, in 2016, fastball usage dropped to 61.5%. In 2017, the number kept dropping and the leaguewide usage of fastballs was 60.9%. The next year, it was 60.4%. In 2019, the number was even lower. The leaguewide usage of fastballs was below 60%. In 2020, it was a shortened season, back then, the usage of fastballs was 57.3%. The fastball usage was 57.8% in 2021. Nevertheless, in 2022, the number decreased by 1.8%. Over the last 2 seasons, usage of fastballs was below 56%.

So, it seems that the leaguewide usage of fastballs has gradually declined. Which type of pitches do MLB pitchers throw more now?

Let’s take a look at the usage of offspeed pitches. Back in 2008, usage of offspeed pitches was 11%. In 2010, it went up to 12.1%. But the next season, the leaguewide usage of offspeed pitches dropped to 11.7%. From 2011 to 2014, the usage of offspeed pitches didn’t change much each season. Nonetheless, in 2015, the number was over 12% again. However, in 2016, the leaguewide usage of offspeed pitches decreased to 11.6%. The number didn’t change much in 2017 and 2018. But in 2019, it went up to 12.3%. The next season, the usage of offspeed pitches was over 13%. The number declined a little bit in 2021 and 2022. However, over the last 2 years, pitchers in majors used offspeed pitches more than 13% of the time each season.

Finally, let’s look at the usage of breaking balls. In 2008, the leaguewide usage of breaking balls was 22.7%. In 2009 and 2010, the number was over 23%. And it kept going up in 2011. As we can see, the leaguewide usage of breaking balls was 24.7%. In 2012 and 2013, the number was over 25%. But the number was below 25% in the next 2 seasons. Nonetheless, in 2016, MLB pitchers threw breaking pitches more than 26% of the time. In 2017, the number reached 27% and stayed over 27% in 2018. In 2019, the number increased to 28.4%. Moreover, in 2020 and in 2021, the leaguewide usage of breaking balls was over 29%. Over the last 3 years, pitchers in the majors threw breaking balls more than 30% of the time each season.

Hence, the reality is that the leaguewide usage of fastballs has gradually decreased. Since 2019, the usage of fastballs has been below 60% in the majors. At the same time, pitchers now use breaking pitches more often. Over the last 3 seasons, the usage of breaking balls was over 30%. And let’s keep watching if the trend will continue this season.