Sinker

What is a sinker?

A sinker is a type of fastball that incorporates a sinking motion, trading off a little bit of speed from a typical four-seam fastball, in exchange for a pitch that is trickier to square up on.

The sinker is also known as a two-seam fastball, due to the nature of the grip used to throw it.

How is the sinker used?

As mentioned above, the sinker, though fast, is not as fast as a four-seam fastball. Instead, the sinking motion can induce weaker contact from a hitter, leading to more groundballs.

How to throw a sinker?

The grip for a sinker varies based on the pitcher. However, the most common way to grip a sinker is for the pitcher to place two fingers directly on top of the part of the ball where the seams are the closest together.

Sinker Examples

Here’s a video showing sinkers in motion, as well as walking through how to throw it

Interesting Sinker Stats

While the sinker has been around in baseball for many years, it was not an intentionally thrown and developed pitch until the 1950s. Before that, pitchers would simply throw a fastball, with some ending up with ones that had a sinking motion. In the 1950s, pitchers began intentionally throwing and developing the sinker.

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