Stroman’s sinker evokes memories of Halladay
By leaning on his sinker as his primary pitch, Marcus Stroman is following in the footsteps of another Blue Jays ace: Roy Halladay.
“I think Stroman’s sinker might actually be better than Halladay’s, but Halladay just did it for so long,” says Pat Hentgen, the former Jays pitcher who now works for the team as an advisor. “It’s so hard to compare a guy that’s got 27 career starts versus a guy who’s probably got 27 complete games, you know what I mean?”
Stroman actually has 32 career starts to his name, while Halladay has 67 complete games. Halladay also had “elite command,” Hentgen said.
“He knew where it started and where it was going to finish. Stroman’s sinker is probably better, but Halladay’s command was better. So if Stroman’s command could get better than sky’s the limit, right?”
The lateness of the movement of Stroman’s sinker is what makes it so difficult to square up, Hentgen said.
“Halladay’s sinker was great, but if he didn’t command it, it got hit. Where Stroman, I think, has a little more freedom in the strike zone with it because it’s a little bit later than Halladay’s.”
Hentgen says he could never throw a sinker. Physically, he couldn’t orient his hand to put the right spin on the ball.
“If you put your right hand out in front of your face and point your middle finger towards two o’clock, that’s where you need to release the ball when you throw a sinker,” he said. “Unfortunately for me, if my hands are in front of my face and my fingers are pointing straight up at 12 o’clock my hand was more tilted towards 11 o’clock, so when I threw the ball as a right-handed pitcher, my ball had a tendency to cut in to the lefty. For me to get the ball to sink in to the lefty was always very, very difficult.”
Cutting the ball came more naturally to Hentgen.
“Stroman just picked up on it. Here’s the grip, boom, done. Next thing you know he’s got one of the best miss-hit sinkers,” he said. “They just don’t put it in play hard. It’s beautiful. It’s such a pitch saver for him.”