Guest Post: The Importance of Two Seamers and Sinkers, and How to Throw Them

By Off The Bench

Posted on November 8, 2016

This is a guest post from friend of the blog Spencer Trayner. Spencer writes The Player’s Spot, which you should check out. This article was originally posted there.

Two Seam Fastballs/Sinkers are highly underestimated in the sport of baseball. So many young pitchers get caught up in velocity and the four seam fastball is the pitch that clocks the highest on the radar gun. Many different organizations place such high importance on velocity and will often give more attention to a pitcher throwing 93-94 as opposed to a pitcher throwing 88-89. Even if the pitcher throwing 93-94 is getting absolutely crushed and the guy throwing 88-89 is throwing a perfect game.

If someone were to ask any higher level hitter what would they rather face, a straight 93 mph fastball or an 89 mph fastball with movement, they would say the straight 93 mph.

Throughout high school and college I was always a power pitcher. I had the typical two power pitcher pitches being a four seam fastball and a splitter. This prevented me from going deeper into games because of the fact that I relied so heavily on a four seam fastball that was as straight as could be. Shortly after I got drafted my friend John Kilichowski and I were watching a baseball game on TV. I forget who was playing but one of the teams brought in a closer throwing the typical two power pitcher pitches. The same two pitches that I threw in College. The only difference between my arsenal of pitches and the closer’s was about 7 mph. My fastball sat around 91 92 and I would bump the occasional 93 94. This closer’s fastball sat 99 mph. I then realized that if I want to make it to the big leagues I can’t be a power pitcher throwing 92 mph. It was at that moment that I became a student of the game. I started studying different pitches.

I tried to throw a slider throughout college but it always turned into an 84 mph frisbee at a right handed hitters head. (Probably because I always tried to overthrow it). Basically what I am saying is that I have never been that great at spinning the baseball. I continued my studying and I started to realize that there are three pitches that can be thrown 90% of the time and the pitcher can still be effective. The three pitches are two seam fastball, cutter, and knuckleball. Examples of each are Bartolo Colon (two seam fastball), Mariano Rivera (cutter), and Tim Wakefield (knuckleball). If a pitcher develops a really good one of these three pitches, then he can go a long way relying heavily on that particular pitch. Due to the fact that I have tried to throw cutters in the past and it is pretty hard to take a knuckleballer seriously, I started messing around with a two seam fastball. I started to throw two seamers with my friend John trying different grips and different mindsets when throwing. I tried thumb up higher, fingers spread out, over pronation. Trust me when I tell you i must have tried every two seam like grip. I am aware that people are going to say “it is not how you grip it, it is how you throw it.” Yes i agree with that, but i truly believe there are certain grips that can help different people throw a more consistent two seam. Different grips work for different people. I will show you the grip that worked best for me.

What I learned being a student of the game in regards to two seam fastballs and studying different pitchers who have good ones is that there are 6 different ways to make the ball run or sink.

1. Finger pressure on the inside of the Baseball. (the more pressure that is on the inside of the ball the more the baseball has a tendency to sink or run arm side).

2. slower spin rate. (the fewer rotations a ball has the more of a tendency it has to sink or run arm side).

3. Side support- (An example of this is putting ones thumb up higher on the inside of the baseball to prevent the ball from moving glove side as much).

4. slower speed. (yes this one seems strange but if a two seam fastball is moving at the same speed as someones four seam then it will not have time to move. It may run or sink at 65 or 70 feet but not at 60 ft 6 inches. That is why many two seam pitchers put their two seam deeper in their hand to create more friction to slow down the ball so it has time to move).

5. Two seam spin. (When two seams of the ball cut through the air it creates a pressure differential giving the ball a greater tendency to sink or run. This is caused by air running across a larger surface area of the smooth part of the baseball. When a four seam fastball cuts through the air the four seams act as a propeller to keep the ball from dropping as much as possible).

6. Arm pronation. (everyones arm pronates after the ball is thrown. When this is put together with the other 5 different ways of making a ball run or sink it creates for a devastating pitch).

So these are the 6 different ways that a baseball can run or sink. Since the 6th way to make a baseball run or sink is something every single pitcher does, many pitchers only incorporate one or two of the other 5 aspects. I took it upon myself to develop a two seam that incorporates all 6 of these aspects.

This is the grip I came up with. I call it the PAW Grip

Now for those who are laughing feel free to grab a bat and face me. And also for those who believe this is a changeup, send me the name of one pitcher who throws 90% changeups. I threw this pitch 95% of the time during my 34 innings pitched this past season. As you can see this grip incorporates every single one of the six aspects.

1. Finger Pressure- Both of my two strongest fingers being my pointer finger and my middle finger are shifted towards the inside of the baseball.

2. Slower spin rate- Throwing the baseball with three fingers slows down the rotations of a ball giving it more of a tendency to run or sink.

3. Side support- Although my thumb is not up on the inside of the ball, take a look at the outside of the ball. There is no support on the outside of the baseball. Putting ones thumb up on the inside of the baseball basically counteracts the ring finger and the pinky on the outside on traditional two seams.

4. Slower speed- Throwing the ball with three fingers makes it impossible for any mature pitcher to throw as hard as his regular fastball. Putting the ring finger on the baseball and throwing it with the ring finger as well takes away the need to put the two seam deeper in the hand. Everyone who has ever thrown a terrible changeup that got hit out of the park knows that putting a baseball deeper into ones hand can result in missing up in the zone giving the batter a cookie to drive to the fence.

5. Two seam spin- With the PAW grip the baseball comes off with two seam spin creating that important differential in pressure as it travels through the air.

6. Pronation- Everyones arm naturally pronates. However I realized how important it was for me to not open my front side when throwing this pitch. That goes for every pitch though. It won’t be a good pitch if a pitchers front side flies open.

Here are some things to remember when throwing the Trayner’s PAW two seam fastball.

-Hold the ball on the top 1.75-2 pads of your fingers.

-keep fingers as straight as you can without giving up grip/control of the ball.

-Throw it. Do not guide it. Throw it just like your four seam fastball.

Now that I showed you what pitch and grip I rely on, here are some other grips that successful two seam pitchers throw. Feel free to email me at spencertrayner98@gmail.com to let me know what grip worked best for you.

Traditional Two Seam Grip