Sinker

From SoSH

Sinker

A Sinker is a pitch in which the ball is spun so that it tails and drops suddenly as it reaches the plate. Besides making the ball harder to hit, the downward motion also makes contact with the ball more likely to result in a ground ball. Sinking fastballs tail in the opposite direction of a pitcher's breaking ball, that is, a right-hander's sinker will tail down and inside to a right-handed batter.

A sinker can also be known as a sinking fastball. It is thrown with a two-seam fastball grip. Besides downward movement, the sinker has sideways movement resulting from pressure to the index or the middle finger. Many sinkerball pitchers pronate their wrist when releasing the pitch, causing their fingers to point away from their body. This induces even more of the tailing side-to-side movement, and is best illustrated by the sinkers of Greg Maddux and Derek Lowe.

Prominent practitioners of the sinker include:
Starting pitchers: Greg Maddux, Derek Lowe, Carlos Zambrano, Jake Westbrook, Carlos Silva, Chien-Ming Wang, Jamey Wright, Brandon Webb.
Reilef pitchers: Julian Tavarez, Aaron Cook, and Bob Wickman.