For nearly every pitcher in baseball, establishing a quality fastball is one of the most essential steps for someone to find success. Fastball pitches (4-seam, 2-seam, sinker, cutter) make up just shy of 50% of all pitches thrown in the major leagues, with some starters like Garrett Crochett and Drew Rasmussen throwing fastball variations upwards of 80% of the time.
At the beginning of the Statcast era, fastballs and their variations were thrown even more. In 2008, just over 60% of pitches thrown were fastballs, and this number has steadily decreased, dropping below 50% for the first time in 2023.