The evolution of the Pirates' pitching philosophy is documented in Ray Searage's notepad. Searage, the team's pitching coach, recites sequences from its pages during each of his starters' side sessions in the bullpen, and one pitch has been featured more prominently than ever before: four-seam fastballs high in the strike zone.
Major League Baseball has changed since Searage's pitch-to-contact plan was a pillar of the Pirates' three consecutive playoff seasons. The launch angle revolution has hitters focused on pitches thrown to the bottom of the strike zone, forcing those who relied on low fastballs to find a different method for survival.
Searage's pitching staff, following a league-wide trend, has used the top of the zone to punch back. Entering Sunday, the Pirates ranked fifth in the majors in four-seam fastballs thrown high in the strike zone, according to Statcast, and the pitch has served as a foundation for the rotation's 3.31 ERA since July 11, the sixth-best mark in the majors during that span.
"It’s mixing it up," Searage told DKPittsburghSports.com. "It’s also using a weapon that hasn’t been really brought to the forefront until all the analytical stuff now. We’re making adjustments, and they’re making adjustments. Now they have another weapon with the fastball — obviously to both sides of the plate and in, but also the top of the zone."
As Searage mentioned, the Pirates haven't backed off from their philosophy of pitching inside. They're still throwing low in the zone, too. However, an emphasis on throwing high has made their pitchers less predictable, and it's produced remarkable results for a pitching staff in need of an answer for sinker-hunting opponents.
Entering Sunday, the Pirates' high four-seam fastballs had produced a .238 opponents' weighted on-base average — a catch-all statistic that measures a player's overall offensive contributes and operates on a similar scale as on-base percentage — which ranks second in the majors and first in the NL. Opponents were also batting just .208 against the pitch, the fourth-lowest mark in the league.
By comparison, the club's pitching staff ranked 16th last season in four-seam fastballs thrown high in the zone, and the pitch wasn't effective, producing a .323 wOBA, and a .274 opponent batting average, the fifth-worst mark in the NL. Meanwhile, the Pirates ranked third in the majors in sinker usage, and it had the second-worst opponents' wOBA in the NL.
Hitters were gearing up to hit their pitches low in the zone, and the trend continued early in 2018. Trevor Williams and Jameson Taillon didn't need to see the advanced metrics to know they needed an answer. Williams' sinker helped him produce a 48 percent ground ball rate in 31 appearances, including 25 starts, for the Pirates in 2017, but it was getting hit hard early this season. He posted a 7.02 ERA in nine starts from May 20 through July 6.
Upon taking a closer look at his pitch sequences, Williams noticed his four-seam fastballs high in the zone seemed to trick hitters. So, rather than using his sinker to set up the high fastball, Williams began getting ahead in the count by attacking high. The strategy has made him one of the league's best pitchers in the second half.
The 26-year-old leads all major league starters in ERA (0.76) and left-on-base percentage (99.8) during that span. His high four-seamers have produced a .182 opponent batting average and .227 wOBA this season. "There’s a league-wide push for the low ball," Williams said. "My four-seam isn’t sexy. It doesn’t fly on high spin rate or whatnot, but it does play up when it’s up in the zone. That’s something we have to utilize, especially when I have average stuff across the board. You have to make one of those average pitches above average."
Taillon's four-seamer was his best pitch in the minor leagues, yet it was his sinker that helped him post a 1.15 WHIP in 18 starts with the Pirates in 2016. He threw the pitch 35.1 percent of the time last season, and it produced a .357 opponents' batting average. So, the 27-year-old began using his sinker as a secondary pitch and added a slider this May to keep opponents from sitting on both pitches.
Entering his start Sunday, Taillon's high fastball had produced a .256 opponents' batting average, compared to .343 last season. "Really, it’s about expanding the top and the bottom of the zone," Neal Huntington said before first pitch Sunday against the Cubs. "To not let teams zone up one area against us. ... It’s sequencing and location. In our mind, the good sinker still plays. The elevated four-seamer plays. It’s when you start to leave that ball in the middle of the plate that it gets hit hard."
Hurdle had a similar assessment, saying "We’ve built up an M.O. over the years as you pitch to contact, three pitches or less. You do use your fastball inside but we’re a two-seam fastball oriented team. We just changed the surface, changed the playing surface. It's real when hitters’ eye levels get changed. ... Now they’re all working the ball in the top tier of the strike zone as well, having some success doing it. Now it gives them freedom."
Even Ivan Nova has started to throw high in the zone. The 31-year-old's sinker produced a 53.6 percent ground-ball rate two seasons ago; however, he too was hit hard when throwing low. Rather than using his four-seamer, Nova's elevated his sinker, and hitters are batting .255 against the pitch.
Chris Archer, acquired by the Pirates at the non-waiver trade deadline, has produced mixed results with his high fastball since throwing the 16th-most in the majors last season. But it's Joe Musgrove, the 26-year-old added from the Astros in the Gerrit Cole trade, who's encouraged the staff to go high, not low.
His previous employer encourages pitchers to use the top of the zone and that strategy helped them win the World Series last October. Charlie Morton, nicknamed "Ground Chuck" because of his propensity to induce ground balls with his sinker, has revitalized his career by throwing more four-seamers high and curveballs. That combination changes the hitter's eye level, forcing them to account for both the top and bottom of the zone.
Although Musgrove's been limited to 14 starts because of injuries, his high four-seamers have produced a .137 wOBA and .136 opponents' batting average.
"That’s something I brought over here and really tried to emphasize to our starters and to Ray, just about how many free strikes there are at the top of the zone," Musgrove said. "Your whole life everyone is taught to throw the ball down and hitters are taught to look for the ball down in the zone. The way guys’ swings are nowadays, they’re trying to get on plane with the low pitch. The high fastball changes eye level and protects the breaking balls."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Pirates vs. Cubs, PNC Park, Aug. 19, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS