Major League Baseball

Shohei Ohtani's new toy: Breaking down his filthy turbo sinker

Updated Sep. 6, 2022 4:18 p.m. ET

By Rob Friedman, aka "Pitching Ninja"
FOX Sports MLB Analyst

We know Shohei Ohtani is an almost mythical creature, an offensive juggernaut (30 home runs this year) combined with an ace pitcher with a major-league-leading K/9 (among qualified starters) of 12:1 and a pitching WAR of 4.6, which ranks him between Max Scherzer and Carlos Rodón.

But what impresses me most about Ohtani (aside from his legendary talent) is his ability to constantly evolve as a pitcher. Like many greats, he is never content and always looking to improve his arsenal to stay one step ahead of hitters.

Perhaps nothing illustrates Ohtani's continuous improvement more than his addition of a filthy turbo sinker in the middle of the season, seemingly out of the blue. Ohtani was asked about his sinker grip in a June interview with Time (at the 42-second mark), and said he didn't have one.

And it was true. At that time, just a couple of months ago, Ohtani hadn't thrown a sinker in a game in his career — not that he needed one, as he was already a dominant pitcher having an outstanding season on the bump.

It's almost like Ohtani took that sinker question as a challenge: I might not have a sinker right now, but just watch me.

Ohtani, ever the mad scientist, went to the lab and decided to whip up a sinker. While most pitchers would wait until the offseason to perfect a new pitch, Ohtani added this sinker smack dab in the middle of the season. He first threw a sinker in a game in July, and in August, he started regularly working this new pitch into his arsenal, adding it to his already lethal combination of an overpowering, 100 mph four-seam fastball and elite off-speed weapons, including a nearly unhittable splitter (whiff rate of 49% this year), a wicked slider and nasty curveball (whiff rates around 40%) and a mean cutter.

Here's a look at Ohtani's filthy, 97 mph sinker movement in August. You can see it's a true sinker, with significant drop as well as arm-side run (averaging nearly seven inches of drop more than his four-seam fastball and almost 12.5 inches more horizontal movement):

But even that vicious sinker wasn't good enough for Ohtani. On Aug. 31, he faced Clay Holmes, who threw this 100 mph sinker to Ohtani.

The look on Ohtani's face is fantastic after he glances at the scoreboard and sees the pitch was 100 mph. At first, I took that expression to be him impressed by the velocity of the Holmes sinker, but in retrospect, he might have been filing the pitch away in his memory bank, saying to himself, "Hmmm … A 100 mph sinker? I should add that to my arsenal."

Sure enough, during Ohtani's next outing, he worked in a 100 mph Turbo sinker!

Here's that incredible pitch:

This 100 mph sinker had 21 inches of horizontal movement with significant drop of 20 inches with gravity.

To show how much more movement this pitch has than Ohtani's four-seam fastball, here's his 100 mph fastball overlaid with his 100 mph sinker:

According to Codify Baseball, that sinker had the most horizontal movement of any strikeout pitch thrown that fast in MLB in more than three years!

Not only did Ohtani add a sinker in the middle of the season, but he also added a truly spectacular pitch. It's absolutely legendary stuff, proving that Ohtani not only has superhuman physical talents but also can shape-shift his pitch arsenal as he desires.

I summed up Ohtani's development of his sinker in this video, taking only minor poetic license.

Ohtani is a pitching savant, and every start is must-watch baseball. Heck, even watching Ohtani taking signs during games is a treat.

I can't wait to see what other tricks he has up his sleeve. Maybe a 90 mph knuckleball?

For Ohtani, it seems that baseball is a video game, and he has admin rights to add new skills at will.

Rob Friedman is an MLB pitching analyst for FOX Sports whose work has been featured on many Major League Baseball broadcasts. Follow him on Twitter @PitchingNinja.