High heat: Tigers collecting high-spin, high-fastball arms

The Tigers, it appears, have a type. It’s just that before 2015, we couldn’t really have known about it. Let’s go back to the first season of Statcast™ and look at the starting pitchers who had the highest four-seam fastball spin rates. Something might stand out:

Four-seam fastball spin leaders, 2015 (min. 800 pitches, 89 qualifiers)

1) Max Scherzer — 2,498 rpm 2) Garrett Richards — 2,496 rpm 3) Justin Verlander — 2,493 rpm 4) Rick Porcello — 2,480 rpm 5) Jeff Samardzija — 2,477 rpm

Only Verlander was a member of the Tigers last year, of course. But Scherzer was his teammate in Detroit from 2010-14 before leaving for Washington, and Porcello was there, too, from 2009-14 before being traded to Boston. The Tigers, whether we (or they) knew about it, had built themselves quite the collection of high-spin fastball pitchers for a half-decade.

But since only Verlander remains from that trio, surely the Tigers must have lost some spin on those four-seamers, right? Well, if you were to look at 2016 team spin leaders, you’d find that’s not really the case.

Four-seam fastball team spin leaders, 2016

1) Detroit — 2,363 rpm 2) Cleveland — 2,358 rpm 3) San Francisco — 2,345 rpm 4) Kansas City — 2,323 rpm 5) Toronto — 2,321 rpmMLB average: 2,260 rpm

Even without Scherzer and Porcello, the Tigers still have a great deal of spin on their four-seamers, ranking No. 1 in baseball.

Now, it’s important to remember that despite the impressive names on that first list, having a high-spin fastball doesn’t guarantee success by itself. It’s a portion of the larger puzzle that includes velocity, control, axis, sequencing, and so on. That said, we’ve learned a lot about what it does mean. High-spin fastballs tend to defy gravity for slightly longer, giving a “rising” effect that can fool a hitter into swinging under the ball, leading to swinging strikes or popups, which are basically strikeouts. (Low spin does the opposite, leading to a sinking effect that induces grounders.)

Since high-spin fastballs generally stay a bit higher than the hitter expects, they’re particularly useful when placed high in the strike zone. Hitters have a tough time laying off, and they have an even tougher time catching up. A high-spin fastball, thrown high, can be devastating — even without elite velocity, which is pretty much exactly the formula that Chris Young has used to succeed despite rarely ever touching 90 mph.

Just look at the contact percentage for fastballs (of all spin rates) so far this season, via FanGraphs. It’s not hard to see that hitters make far more contact low, so an effectively used high fastball can be a good …

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