‘High heat’ is one of the cooler-sounding terms that baseball has to offer. In decades past, the high fastball’s primary utility for many pitchers was simply to change the eye level at the plate. It was considered to be merely a secondary approach for hurlers when it came to attacking hitters.
Now the rising fastball may as well be the approach, a fundamental of modern pitching. And perhaps no other offense has had more success than the Astros’ when facing it.
In 2015, 40.1 percent of all four-seam fastballs thrown were located in the upper third of the strike zone or above it, per Baseball Savant (BS).