Steven Matz and High Sinkers

Steven Matz is weird. He may seem like the average mid-to-back-end sinkerballer, but he fulfills that role in a way that is much different than most sinkerballers. Matz targets the upper portion of the zone with his sinkers. This is a bit counter-intuitive since the sinker is a pitch that typically generates an above average amount of groundballs. In order to get groundballs most pitchers throw sinkers in the bottom of the zone.

For instance, he is the locations of each sinker that Dakota Hudson threw in 2019 (his last full season).

Hudson did throw a large amount of pitches off the plate and high or inside to right handers, but for the most part he stayed down in the zone with the pitch.