The High Fastball's Success Story

The High Fastball's Success Story 

by: Adam Jeannette


Intro

    -High fastballs are a new trend in Major League Baseball that started just recently. The exact opposite was preached to pitchers for nearly the entire history of the MLB. The old mindset of pitching low in the zone for weak contact is fading as strikeouts are at an all-time high in today's game. Part of this rise in strikeouts is due to the usage of the high fastball. 




Why is it so Effective?

Induced Vertical Break

    -First off, not all fastballs are effective when thrown up in the zone. However, the ones that are effective up in the strike zone share similar movement profiles. In the screenshot above from a pitch on Rapsodo, the induced vertical break, outlined as "V", is 18". What this means is this particular fastball has a higher induced vertical break than most. The average vertical break on a fastball is 14-16" with lower breaks classifying the fastball as more of a "sinker" and higher breaks classifying as "riding" fastballs. Circling back to the example fastball in the picture, because of the higher vertical break, this pitch would be effective up in the zone. The reason for this is the pitch resists gravity more than a fastball with a lower vertical break, causing batters to swing under the pitch when it is thrown up in the zone. They swing because they expect it to fall into the top part of the zone like an average fastball would. 

Pitch Tunneling

   -On top of the high fastball being a good swing and miss pitch, it can also be useful for pitch tunneling. What this means is when you throw this pitch and an off-speed pitch back to back, it can stay on plane with the off-speed pitch for most of the travel, making the hitter's job of recognizing the pitch that much harder. One pitch that tunnels extremely well with the high fastball is the curveball. The reason for this is most true curveballs hop up out of the pitcher's hand slightly before breaking sharply downwards. The high fastball tunnels well with this because it takes that initial hump out of the hand for the most part. In the image below, it is easier to understand this concept of pitch tunneling. 



Is the High Fastball Eliminating the Sinker?

    -With analytics more prevalent in today's game than ever before, a lot of people believe the high fastball is eliminating the need for a sinker. This could be true, but it is very doubtful. The reason for this is in baseball, it is all about having a slight advantage over the hitter as a pitcher. Currently, the high fastball is that advantage with more pitchers using it to their advantage. However, major league hitters are the best in the world at hitting, so eventually, they will adjust to the high fastball trend and this is where sinkers will come back into the equation. This is the revolution of the game that evolves more every year. 

Example of a Good Sinker

Conclusion

   -High fastballs are a hot topic right now in the baseball world. More pitchers are trying their luck up in the zone with fastballs and having great success with it. An important trait a fastball must have to be successful up in the zone is an induced vertical break above 17". Technology like Rapsodo, Trackman, Diamond Kinetics, Pitch Logic, and Hawkeye help out drastically with this since they measure all the data on pitches, including the induced vertical break. Analytics are taking over baseball, giving insight on what pitches to throw and when. This is partially why the high fastball has gained so much popularity recently. It is going to be interesting to see if the high fastball is still successful in 5 years since hitters are constantly adjusting to pitch trends within the game.












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