Welcome back to my pitch review series, where I’ll be taking a look at the five best pitches of each pitch type from last year.
If you haven’t read the first article in the series on the five best changeups from last year, that outlines how this series works, what the prerequisites are to be included, and all that fun stuff (plus there are some pretty cool changeups in there too!). Also check out my piece on the five best curveballs of last year, the five best cutters, the five best fastballs, and the five best sliders.
Today, we’re going to take a look at the five best sweepers of last year, as ranked by PLV. So let’s dive in!
5. JP Sears
JP Sears has had basically three straight years of pretty rough results as a starter, with last year being his worst, posting a 5.04 ERA, with a 1.32 WHIP, and a 20.1% strikeout rate in 27 starts, moving from the A’s to the Padres as part of the Mason Miller trade last year.
But this sweeper isn’t why Sears struggled; it’s a pretty great pitch. Sears doesn’t use it as a strikeout pitch but instead uses it early in counts, mainly as an offering against lefties, to snag an early strike.
And for those purposes, it worked great, logging a 66.4% strike rate (85th percentile among sweepers) and a 23.7% called strike rate (91st percentile). And even when hitters did make contact, they didn’t do much with it, posting a .285 wOBA against the pitch.
The rest of the repertoire…not great. The fastball is rough, and the changeup is worse, though he’s got a pretty nice slider to go along with this great sweeper.
Orion Kerkering didn’t have as good a season last year as he did in 2024, but it was still very excellent work coming out of the bullpen, posting a 3.30 ERA, with a 1.37 WHIP, and 24.4% strikeout rate on his way to 19 holds and four saves in 69 appearances.
This sweeper is the pitch Kerkering throws more than any other, throwing it 48% of the time, and similar to Sears, Kerkering throws it early in counts as a way to get an early strike.
And it worked pretty well, too. Coming in around 87 MPH on average with a good bit of movement on it, Kerkering’s sweeper logged a very solid 62.5% strike rate (60th percentile) and 19.8% called-strike rate (80th percentile) alongside a very solid .285 wOBA against.
The putaway pitch for Kerkering was generally his fastball, which was also pretty excellent and posted an awesome 32.9% CSW (89th percentile among fastballs).
3. Sonny Gray
After three straight years of bouncing back to being a really solid starter, Sonny Gray took a bit of a step back last year, posting a 4.28 ERA, albeit with an excellent 26.7% strikeout rate, in 32 starts.
The sweeper works as a great pitch for him, though, coming in around 85 MPH on average with loads of movement. This was (and has been for a while now) Gray’s main two-strike pitch, and it worked beautifully.
Last year, Gray’s sweeper posted a 50.7% chase rate (99th percentile among sweepers) with a 25.2% swinging-strike rate (96th percentile). And even if hitters made contact, the pitch had a 45.2% ground-ball rate and a .171 wOBA against, so they weren’t making hard contact.
It’s a killer pitch. Gray’s fastball, though, is where he really struggled, as opposing hitters had a ridiculous .437 wOBA against the pitch. Given that he’s seen his fastball velocity dropping each year, that would probably have something to do with it.
Tomoyuki Sugano’s first year in MLB with the Orioles turned out…pretty meh. A fairly soft-tossing pitcher mostly focused on his breaking stuff, Sugano (like much of the Orioles’ pitching staff) turned in a pretty okay season last year, posting a 4.64 ERA, with a 1.33 WHIP, alongside a 15.7% strikeout rate in 30 starts.
Sugano’s repertoire mainly features his splitter alongside this sweeper and a fastball/sinker/cutter mix with the occasional curveball. Sort of a kitchen sink approach.
The sweeper worked great as an early pitch to snag a strike. Coming in around 84 MPH on average, Sugano controlled the pitch well and earned a solid 66% strike rate (81st percentile) and even got solid chase rate numbers with a 33.3% clip (61st percentile).
Opposing hitters did have a habit of making solid contact with the sweeper on occasion, though, posting a .328 wOBA against and an 18.2% HR/FB rate, but generally speaking, the pitch worked pretty well.
1. Griffin Jax
After a dominant season out of the bullpen in 2024, the pendulum swung the complete opposite direction for Griffin Jax last year, who posted some of the worst numbers he’s had in years with a 4.23 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP, though that came with a brilliant 35% strikeout rate, on his way to 28 saves.
This sweeper is Jax’s money maker. The pitch comes in around 88 MPH with a good bit of movement to it and worked early in counts or as a strikeout pitch, posting a 40.1% chase rate (86th percentile), 22% swinging-strike rate (92nd percentile), and a 42.3% CSW (95th percentile). And on top of that, the pitch also had a 52.8% ground-ball rate, meaning hitters were either missing the pitch or hitting it right into the ground.
Frankly, Jax’s numbers should’ve been better. The quality of his repertoire was pretty solid to excellent top to bottom, and the fact that his 4.23 ERA came with a 2.51 FIP and a 3.00 xERA alongside a .375 BABIP and a 24.1% HR/FB rate all scream to me that Jax is way better than his results last year.
Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Ethan Kaplan (@djfreddie10.bsky.social on Blue Sky and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)
