Pedro Strop’s whiff rate, walk rate, and most other underlying peripherals are nearly identical this year compared to previous seasons. But there’s one noticeable problem this season: His sinker has been brutally bad.
According to Brooks Baseball, Strop has thrown 61 sinkers (14% of his overall pitches) this season according. Only one of those has gotten a whiff. Just one swing and miss out of 61 pitches (1.64%). In previous seasons, Strop would throw a sinker once every four pitches and induce a whiff on about 7% of them.
But it’s not just that he’s throwing the pitch less and isn’t flat-out missing bats, it’s that hitters are barreling up Strop’s sinker at an INSANE rate.