José Quintana Inducing More Grounders with Elevated Sinkers

Inducing grounders by throwing sinkers up in the strike zone seems counterintuitive, but that is exactly what José Quintana is doing. In August, three of every four of his sinkers put in play have been hit on the ground.

It’s Q’s highest sinker grounder rate of the season and the best one-month stretch of his entire Cubs career.

Even better is that no batter has an extra base hit off of Quintana’s sinker in August. That’s right: Quintana has thrown 74 sinkers and none have been hit for extra bases.

We recently pointed out that Quintana has elevated his sinker over the last few weeks, which has resulted in opponents struggling to score against him. Who would’ve thought working up in the zone would lead to more grounders? I certainly didn’t.