“Hey, Astros, tell us how you really feel about the sinker?”
“Forget the freaking sinkers!”
This season alone, as of Thursday morning, Houston’s pitchers have thrown the lowest rate of sinkers (0.2 percent) out of any team. It should be noted, though, that this is based on Baseball Savant’s pitch classification. And let’s not forget a two-seam fastball can occasionally be classified as a sinker. So, if one combines both pitches in the same query, the Astros’ pitching staff have thrown a sinker or two-seam fastball 6.7 percent of the time compared to their overall pitch distribution.