ATLANTA -- Marlins right-hander Eury Pérez opened Wednesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Braves at Truist Park with a sinker.
Until May 12, that wasn’t even an option in Pérez’s arsenal. Now, it’s the offering he has turned to most in five consecutive starts -- and for good reason. Entering Wednesday, batters had the lowest slugging percentage (.358) against the two-seamer on pitches he throws at least 10 percent of the time.
Not bad for a pitch that Pérez learned in-season, and one clearly leading to his success as a more well-rounded pitcher.
Pérez had posted a 1.55 ERA in his past nine starts before Wednesday, which coincides with the increased usage of his unique two-seamer.
According to Baseball Savant, Pérez flashes the highest-spin sinker, which are usually lower-spin pitches. Pair that with the sidearm angle, and it runs horizontally more than vertically.
Here are some pitchers with similar sinkers (high velocity with more of a running two-seamer):
- Eury Pérez: 98 mph / 15" drop / 16" run
- Bubba Chandler: 98 mph / 16" drop / 14" run
- Juan Morillo: 99 mph / 16" drop / 14" run
- Cam Schlittler: 98 mph / 18" drop / 14" run
- Bradgley Rodriguez: 98 mph / 17" drop / 15" run
- Ben Brown: 96 mph / 17" drop / 15" run
“You're talking about premium velocity,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “Even in an age where the average fastball has gone up so much, when you're talking about 98-100 [mph] and there's two versions of it, it's basically two separate pitches that are moving really fast that make it tough for the hitter to somewhat try to distinguish between which way it's going to go.
“I think those will always be really his bread and butter, but the improvement of the sweeper, the slider, the changeup, now how it just rounds out his arsenal. It just is much harder for guys to just go up there and gear up for the fastball. But now, he's becoming much more of a pitcher than just someone with big stuff.”
Teams will expect Pérez’s triple-digit four-seamer, so the two-seamer gives them another weapon to worry about. It has helped him get ground balls and quicker outs, though that can backfire as seen in Wednesday’s defeat.
Ronald Acuña Jr. blooped a single off Pérez’s sinker in the first, but All-Star Matt Olson swung through a 98.7 mph sinker later in the inning. When Pérez allowed three runs in the second, his fastballs got beat.
The inning started ominously when Pérez walked Ozzie Albies in a nine-pitch battle after being up 0-2 in the count. A perfectly executed hit-and-run -- on Pérez’s 100.3 mph sinker -- put runners on the corners. Following a popout, Austin Riley pulled an inside 98 mph sinker for an RBI double.
Pérez then struck out Sean Murphy looking on a 100.1 mph four-seamer before Drake Baldwin sent a 99.3 mph sinker up the middle for a two-run single.
“It was not a matter of location,” Pérez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “I think this is a team that knows me very well, and they were attacking all the time with the fastballs. Again, I'll go back to the situation with ground balls. Sometimes they were stealing and the second baseman was not in position. Those ground balls were going through. But again, I was just attacking the zone and I feel they were very prepared, and I think I did my job.”
Despite the results, the Marlins will take Pérez attacking with those pitches. Entering Wednesday, he was in the zone just 38 percent of the time to right-handed batters with the sinker. The pitch can get both sides out since batters aren’t sure if the ball's going to hold its plane and stay true through the zone, or if it's going to have darting action in towards a righty or away from a lefty.
Miami had gotten so used to the version of Pérez that very easily could’ve been named National League Pitcher of the Month for July. In five starts last month, he completed at least six innings and recorded a quality start in each of them. On Wednesday, he finished strong vs. a nemesis (0-3, 9.78 career ERA).
“He's just doing such a better job of being in a position where with the weapons he has, the hitters are just in a tougher spot,” McCullough said. “I hope he gives up a lot of first-pitch hits, because I think over time, that will win out for him, and that's going to happen. But if he's aggressively in the zone, it's such a good thing. People have to work for everything against him. It's just going to be hard most days.”