ATLANTA -- When Oscar Marin took over as the Pirates' pitching coach after the 2019 season, he was tasked with catching the team up to league trends, including relying on the fastball more rather than continuing to rely on the sinker.
That’s changing in 2022. Walking past batting cages this season, teams set up pitching machines and Rapsodos to simulate the look and velocity of high fastballs. Hitters are looking for high heat.
“I think the game was asking us to make an adjustment, and we’re making that adjustment,” Marin told me.
That adjustment is going back to the sinker.