It wasn’t just an elite changeup that led Cristopher Sánchez to a second-place finish in 2025 National League Cy Young Award voting.
Sánchez’s sinker -- the left-hander’s only fastball -- was also one of the best pitches in the Major Leagues. By pitching run value, which takes into account runners on base, outs and ball/strike count, it was even better than Sánchez’s nasty changeup. Both pitches ranked in the top 15 in MLB.
But even though Sánchez’s changeup was as good as ever in 2026, his sinker was hit concerningly hard. Opponents batted .331 (119-for-360) against the pitch with a .483 slugging percentage, numbers similar to Sánchez’s first All-Star season in 2024 (.345 BA, .481 SLG). In 2025, by comparison, Sánchez held opponents to a .269 average and .342 slugging percentage on his sinker.
Sánchez’s sinker metrics, 2025 vs. 2026
Expected wOBA: .321 in ’25, .366 in ’26
Avg. exit velocity: 92.0 mph in ’25, 92.6 mph in ’26
Hard-hit rate: 50.5% in ’25, 53.5% in ’26
Barrel rate: 6.6% in ’25, 9.4% in ’26
Whiff rate: 14.5% in ’25, 11.9% in ’26
Sánchez remains highly effective even without his best sinker, but having a top-flight fastball has helped him reach impressive peaks during his career. Here are three reasons his sinker struggled in 2026 and what he can do to fix it.
Wider platoon splits
Left-handed hitters face a tough task in Sánchez, who has held lefties to a career .502 OPS, compared to a .702 OPS for right-handed hitters. His sinker was actually even better against same-side hitters in 2026 (.193 BA, .228 SLG) than in 2025 (.200 BA, .244 SLG).
But it was against right-handed hitters where the gap widened significantly. Held to a .294 average and .377 SLG in ’25, righties crushed Sánchez’s sinker in ’26, going 97-for-246 (.394) at the plate and slugging .602.
That power increase meant a lot more batted balls leaving the yard: Sánchez allowed 12 home runs on his sinker in 2026 after giving up just four the season prior. Of those 16 total dingers, 15 were hit by right-handers, with the Cubs’ Michael Busch the lone exception thanks to a three-run shot in April 2026 at Wrigley Field.
Specifically when it comes to his sinker, Sánchez’s 2026 numbers against righties aren’t completely out of line with some prior seasons, but they’re a far cry from 2025. Considering he throws only three pitches (including what graded out as a plus slider in 2026), Sánchez will need to rein in right-handed hitters to improve.
Damage down the middle
The major increase in power against Sánchez’s sinker might indicate a lot of meatballs, but surprisingly, the lefty threw more fastballs down the middle in his career-best 2025 than he did in 2026. In ’25, 38.6% of Sánchez’s sinkers were considered to be in the heart of the strike zone, or more than one baseball’s width inside the zone, compared to just 34.4% in ’26.
But what opponents did against those hittable offerings changed considerably between the two seasons. Sánchez allowed a .320 batting average (65-for-203) and a .419 slugging percentage on pitches in the heart of the zone in 2025, compared to a .371 average (73-for-197) and a .558 SLG.
Part of that 2025 success is likely attributable to deception -- a hitter expecting a changeup below the zone and getting a mid-90s heater down the middle might be fooled -- but Sánchez will need to locate his sinker a bit better in 2027 to avoid more damage.
Putaway problems
Sánchez commands swings and misses at an elite rate on his changeup and slider (46.0% and 43.1% in 2026, respectively), but a notable downturn in whiffs on his sinker didn’t help his cause.
His 14.5% whiff rate on sinkers in 2025 was a bit above league average (13.9%), but that declined to 11.9% in ’26. When Sánchez did reach two strikes on hitters, he wasn’t great at finishing the job with his sinker: His putaway percentage declined from 23.1% to 18.3%.
Sánchez doesn’t need his sinker to be a huge strikeout offering, but being unable to end at-bats on it led to longer innings and more hits. Opponents hit just .135 (14-for-104) against his sinker in 2025, a number that ballooned to .239 (33-for-138) in ’26.