I watched some tweets on X. A pitcher indicated that he uses sinkers against lefties for some reason. And I watched some clips and it clearly shows that his sinker is a good weapon. He has thrown many strikeouts against left-handed hitters by using his sinker.
After watching the clips, I was just wondering whether many pitchers had done the same. To solve my doubts, I decided to check on the statcast website.
To make things easier, this time, we only look at the data from 2021 to 2024. Brady Singer certainly throws a lot of sinkers because that’s his primary pitch. In particular, his sinker usage was over 50% in 2021 and 2022. From 2021 to 2024, he threw more than 2000 sinkers against left-handed hitters.
In the meantime, Logan Webb’s sinker usage was more than 30% of the time from 2021 to 2024. Against left-handed hitters, he threw more than 1800 sinkers. However, left-handed hitters owned a batting average over .300 against Webb’s sinkers.
Moreover, Marcus Stroman relies on his sinker. His sinker usage was over 40% from 2021 to 2023. Last season, he threw his sinker more than 30% of the time. From 2021 to 2024, he threw 1800 sinkers against left-handed hitters.
Additionally, Chris Bassitt threw 1600+ sinkers against left-handed batters from 2021 to 2024 and Dane Dunning used 1400+ sinkers against left-handed hitters.
Looking at the pitchers who used to strike out many left-handed hitters by sinkers from 2021 to 2024, Brady Singer is the leader. Over the last 4 seasons, he used his sinkers to strike out 100+ left-handed hitters. Furthermore, Sonny Gray used his sinkers to strike out 80+ left-handed hitters. Gray’s sinker usage was over 20% in 2021 and 2022. Nonetheless, over the last 2 seasons, his sinker usage was below 20%.
At the same time, Aaron Nola and Jose Berrios each threw 80+ strikeouts against left-handed hitters by using sinkers. Nola doesn’t use his sinker so often. From 2021 to 2024, there was only one time that he threw sinkers more than 20% of time in a single season. Berrios’ sinker usage was over 30% over the last 2 seasons. Also, Chris Bassitt and Zach Eflin each used their sinkers to throw 77 strikeouts against left-handed batters over the last 4 seasons.
Looking at the data from 2021 to 2024, it’s quite clear that Brady Singer certainly relies on his sinker and he can use it to punch out batters. And Chris Bassitt relies on his sinker and he can use it to strike out batters. But interestingly, Sonny Gray and Aaron Nola hadn’t thrown their sinkers that often. Nevertheless, their sinkers could be an option after 2 strikes since they can use it to strike out left-handed hitters. With the remainder of the 2025 season, we can still take a look at which pitchers will throw sinkers often, in particular, after 2 strikes. Furthermore, is it possible to see some of those pitchers use sinkers to punch out left-handed hitters in the postseason? It will be worth watching.
No comments:
Post a Comment