Yoshinobu Yamamoto's New Sinker and Slider. Emerson Hancock Needs a Location Change
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Emerson Hancock, Patrick Sandoval, Trevor Williams
Dodgers Yoshinobu Yamamoto broke out a sinker last night. He threw ~8 of them, averaging 94 mph, 12.5” vertical break and 14” arm-side movement. No Sutff+ on the sinker yet, but Driveline has a 96 on his four-seam, I’d bet the sinker is similar. The utility here is likely ground-ball contact against righties so the four-seam can start to creep more into the upper-third of the zone. Heatmap below shows his four-seam+sinker location to righties last night. My guess is that he’s going to split the plate, fastballs away early, elevated late with sinkers running inside. I think the sinker inside will do wonders for setting up anything he places off the plate. 📈
Yamamoto also has a new slider that he threw a season-high 6 times yesterday. He’s thrown 9 this season in total all of which have been ahead in the count to right-handed hitters. His feel for the pitch is pretty raw, I’d classify 8 of the 9 sliders thrown this season as either misses or non-competitive, which is understandable given the novelty of the offering.
I think the reasoning behind adding these pitches make sense. Yamamoto has a .279 xwOBA with two strikes against right-handed hitters and a 13% swinging strike rate, both below the MLB average for righties (.230 and 14.5% respectively). Driveline grades the slider as a 115, plus pitch. It’s 85-87 mph with -2” vertical break and 6” sweep. 1 mph harder than the average slider with 4” more drop and a comparable amount of sweep. Getting more velo and more drop than average is a tough combo. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this become his go-to deep-count pitch against right-handed hitters. I think it’s a great addition to an already plus mix.
Mariners Emerson Hancock is struggling versus right-handed hitters. He holds a .644 xSLG versus right-handed hitters. His sinker, slider, and changeup all have xSLGs above .600. His sinker issues are a bit perplexing. The pitch gets a 113 Stuff+ per Driveline (plus pitch) and he commands it well (109 Command+). Yet it’s getting crushed exactly where he throws it—down-and-in to righties.
I propose the pitch be thrown more middle-in or up-in rather than down-in. The approach angle of the pitch is very average for a righty sinker (aka, not particularly steep to help induce ground balls). And I think elevating the pitch more would help it play off the four-seam, which is mainly up-away. He doesn’t seem to have the same issue versus left-handed hitters, where he is elevating the sinker more. Heatmaps below showing sinker location to left- and right-handed hitters. Elevate the sinker, Emerson. 🔱
Angels Patrick Sandoval continues to abandon his four-seam fastball. Usage through his first four starts was 31%. Usage in his last 4 starts has been 9%, toggling it down to 3% in yesterday’s gem. In those first 4 starts, the pitch had an xSLG of .502. The main beneficiaries have been his slider and his sinker, which are both up about 10 percentage points in usage. His overall xwOBA has gone from .324 in those first 4 starts down to .191 in his last 4. Smart adjustment by the Angels. Driveline Stuff+ has the four-seam as his worst pitch at 95. His slider is a plus-plus pitch at 133 Stuff+ and the sinker is marginally better than the four-seam at 99 Stuff+. 😇
Nationals Trevor Williams has improved his home run rate dramatically this season. He gave up 2.12 HR/9 last season. He’s yet to allow a home run this year. The primary adjustment has been the addition of a sweeper to right-handed hitters, which he’s throwing 22%, pulling usage mostly from his bullet slider. The pitch has a 38% swing-miss rate, above the 33% average for sliders. Driveline Stuff+ of 97, average pitch. We’re seeing a similar approach to lefties, where he’s cut about 10 percentage points of four-seam usage in exchange for 14% sweeper usage, 44% swing-miss here is even higher than versus righties. 🤷♂️
The key, I think, is his 114 Driveline Command+ of the sweeper, which is plus command. To righties, the pitch has been meticulously placed in the lower shadow of the zone. To lefties, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some regression in results, given he’s sitting down in the zone with the pitch a lot for strikes. Heatmaps below. Plus command is what that righty plot looks like. He was a 5.50 ERA pitcher last year, I think these adjustments make him more like a 4.3-4.5 ERA guy, which is a substantial improvement. FIP is more positive with a 2.98 right now.
