u/mlbarchives

His fastball and curve haven't been effective at the same time since 2023, but his changeup has always been there for him.

Also found out that Zac's slider was the worst in the league in 2025 by run value, with -11 runs.

You know what he did this year?

He made his slider his secondary pitch, jumping from 13% in '25 to 21% in '26. Even though he's been out for a month, he accumulated enough negative run value with his slider that he's still tied for worst slider in the league again, with -7 runs. Who is allowing this to happen?

I was looking at Christopher Sánchez's Savant Page when I stumbled upon something: while his slider and changeup have been two of the most valuable pitches in baseball, his primary pitch, his sinker, has been of negative value this year (-2 runs). It's a total flip from last year, where his sinker was exceptional and his slider was just average. This brings me to the main point:

Hitters are batting .357 off Christopher Sánchez's sinker, which is the highest batting average of any pitch type by any pitcher, minimum 500 pitches. The 55.4% Hard Hit rate ranks as the third worst in baseball. The runner-up in the batting average race is Zac Gallen's 4-seamer, who in contrast is having the worst season of his career so far.

It blows my mind that his change and slider can play off his sinker so well that he's still a Cy Young canidate despite having the most batted pitch in the sport. I haven't heard a soul talk about how people are mashing his fastball.

Pitch Arsenal Leaderboard

His -6 Outs Above Average is the 3rd worst of any qualified fielders at any position, only trailing Junior Caminero and C.J. Abrams. What the hell happened? He was about league average last year, now's he's imploded defensively.