Sinker (pitch)

[1] Pitchers capable of utilizing the sinker are able to throw the pitch almost exclusively, as it forces weak contact and ground balls, allowing them to rely less on secondary pitches in order to change speeds.

[3] In either case, the pitch is thrown in a two-seam orientation and has a gyro angle far from 0 degrees, leading to seam-shifted wake effects that cause downward and lateral movement compared to a four-seam fastball.

Bill James cites Curt Simmons as the first pitcher to be able to throw both sinkers and rising fastballs, apparently indicating that it was not known how to make a pitch sink and how to make one hop.

This causes a sharper sink, but also has a greater risk of a wild pitch.

[4] The sinker drops 6 to 9 inches more than a typical four-seam fastball, which causes batters to hit ground balls more often than other fastballs, mostly due to the tilted sidespin on the ball.