Garrett Crochet And Zack Wheeler Throw MLB’s Best Four-Seam Fastballs

With spring training camps opening all around us, it’s time to take a final look back at last season with my annual “Best Pitches” series.

We’re going pitch by pitch through the arsenals of all starting pitchers who threw 135 or more innings last season to determine the game’s best – and worst – offerings. (Yes, Paul Skenes and Tyler Glasnow both fell just short of that mark – we’ll tackle them afterward.) The main inputs are pitchers’ bat-missing and contact management results. Each pitch is compared to league average swing-and-miss rates and pitch-specific Adjusted Contact Scores.

Adjusted Contact Score is, on a scale where 100 equals MLB average and the lower the number the better, the relative production a pitcher “should have” allowed based on the exit speed/launch angle mix of every batted ball yielded. An average pitch gets a “B’”, and a sliding scale is applied to each pitcher’s results to approximate a bell curve.

We’ve already covered changeups, curve balls, cutters and splitters. Today’s it’s on to four-seam fastballs. Four-seamers present a true paradox. It’s the game’s least effective pitch, with a poor 117.3 Adjusted Contact Score, by far the worst among all offerings. Its 8.9% whiff rate is better than only the sinker.

However, to be a truly great pitcher, it really helps to have a great four-seamer. And once you’ve got one, you tend to have one for the long haul. As you will see, top four-seamer artists tend to have staying power. A total of 73 pitchers met the pitch and batted ball requirements necessary to receive a pitch grade.

10 pitchers received “A” grades or better, with Garrett Crochet (White Sox) and Zack Wheeler (Phillies) getting the coveted “A+”, and Hunter Greene (Reds), Tarik Skubal (Togers), George Kirby (Mariners), Luis Severino (Mets), Joe Ryan (Twins), Nick Martinez (Reds), Luis Castillo (Mariners) and Aaron Nola (Phillies) right behind at the “A” level. Among the “A” grade recipients, Greene (55.2%), Ryan (48.5%) and Castillo (45.3%) stood out for their high four-seamer usage rates. The “A+” guys, Crochet (53.7%) and Wheeler (41.4%) also threw the pitch an awful lot.

LHP Garrett Crochet (White Sox, now Red Sox) – A+ – (106 Adj. Contact Score, 15.2% Whiff Rate) – It was all about bat-missing for Crochet’s four-seamer – he posted the 2nd highest pitch-specific whiff rate while his contact management performance ranked a more modest 20th. Crochet’s 97.2 mph average four-seamer velocity ranked 2nd highest among qualifiers, and its spin rate (2505 rpm) and vertical movement (9.2 in.) were also on the high end. Its horizontal movement (5.4 in.) was in the league average range.

RHP Zack Wheeler (Phillies) – A+ – (101 Adj. Contact Score, 13.9% Whiff Rate) – Wheeler’s pitch-specific whiff rate ranked 4th best among qualifiers while its contact management performance tied for 13th. He’s a regular on the top four-seamer list, earning the rare “A++” grade in 2023, an “A” in 2021 and “B+” marks in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. Its an eyepopping pitch with big measurables – its velocity (95.3 mph), spin (2484 rpm) and horizontal movement (6.2 in.) were all above average, while its vertical movement (8.4 in.) was in the league average range. He muted fly ball authority with his four-seamer, posting an 88 Adjusted Fly Ball Contact Score.

RHP Hunter Greene (Reds) – A – (87 Adj. Contact Score, 10.8% Whiff Rate) – Greene’s four-seamer tied for the 4th best contact management performance and posted the 15th highest pitch-specific whiff rate. He threw the hardest four-seamer (97.6 mph) among qualifiers, and his spin rate (2383 rpm) and vertical movement (9.8 in.) were also above average, while his horizontal movement (5.7 in.) was in the average range. Greene’s four-seamer absolutely smothered fly ball authority, with a 70 Adjusted Fly Ball Contact Score.

RHP Joe Ryan (Twins) – A – (110 Adj. Contact Score, 13.2% Whiff Rate) – Ryan followed the same high-whiff (6th)/merely decent contact management (26th) path blazed by Crochet and Wheeler. His four-seamer’s measurables simply aren’t in the same league as the aforementioned hurlers, however. Only its horizontal movement (7.6 in.) was materially above average, while its velocity (94.0 mph), spin (2275 rpm) and vertical movement (7.7 in.) were average to below average. Ryan gets a ton of pop ups with the pitch – his 25.2% pop up rate was almost double the qualifiers’ average of 14.4%. Ryan got an “A” for his four-seamer in 2022 and an “A+” in 2023.

RHP Luis Castillo (Mariners) – A – (109 Adj. Contact Score, 11.9% Whiff Rate) – Another high-whiff (11th among qualifiers), merely decent contact manager (25th) in this top group. Castillo throws his four-seamer hard (95.6 mph) with significant horizontal movement (7.8 in.), but his spin rate (2147 rpm) and vertical movement (6.9 in.) were well below average. Castillo’s pitch-specific pop up rate (25.7%) was even higher than Ryan’s. Talk about a track record – this is Castillo’s 4th straight year with an “A” grade of better – he peaked at “A+” in 2022. Before that, he got a “C+” in 2018 and a “B” in 2019 and 2020.

The Other Star Pupils – The other “A” grade recipients were Tarik Skubal (Tigers), George Kirby (Mariners), Luis Severino (Mets, now Athletics), Nick Martinez (Reds) and Aaron Nola (Phillies). Skubal (9th at 12.2%) and Kirby (3rd at 15.1%) had strong pitch-specific whiff rates, while Severino (tied for 1st at 83), Martinez (tied for 4th at 87) and Nola (tied for 1st with Severino at 83) excelled at contact management.

Skubal (96.8 mph), Kirby (96.0 mph) and Severino (96.2 mph) had top ten velocities, while Martinez (92.6 mph) and Nola (92.5 mph) were near the bottom of the qualifier range. None of this group posted high-end spin rates, though all but Nola generated significant vertical movement with their four-seamers. On the other hand, Nola generated the most horizontal movement of this group.

Just Missed: A whopping 21 pitchers earned “B+” grades: Luis Gil (Yankees), Cole Ragans (Royals), Max Fried (Braves, now Yankees), Jake Irvin (Nationals), Bailey Falter (Pirates), Bryce Miller (Mariners), Colin Rea (Brewers, now Cubs), Pablo Lopez (Twins), Mitch Keller (Pirates), Sean Manaea (Mets), Freddy Peralta (Brewers), Shota Imanaga (Cubs), Michael King (Padres), Frankie Montas (Reds/Brewers, now Mets), Dylan Cease (Padres), Mackenzie Gore (Nationals), Miles Mikolas (Cardinals), Yusei Kikuchi (Blue Jays/Astros), Jose Quintana (Mets), Bailey Ober (Twins) and Nathan Eovaldi (Rangers). Gil excelled at contact management and bat-missing, fractionally missing an “A” grade. Ragans, Fried, Irvin, Falter, Imanaga, Cease, Gore Mikolas, Quintana and Eovaldi were better at contact management, while Miller, Rea, Lopez, Keller, Manaea (1st among qualifiers with a 15.6% whiff rate!), Peralta, King, Montas and Kikuchi were better at bat-missing. Ober was modestly above league average at both disciplines.

The Worst Changeups: Brady Singer (Royals, now Reds) got a “D” while Austin Gomber (Rockies) and Kyle Gibson (Cardinals), checked in at “D+”. Singer’s 182 Adjusted Contact Score was the very worst among qualifiers, as was Gibson’s minuscule 1.6% whiff rate. Gomber’s 3.3% whiff rate was 2nd lowest.

2023 “A” Grade Recipients: We’ve already discussed Wheeler (“A++” in 2023), Ryan (“A+”), Kirby, Castillo, Ober, Lopez, Peralta and Kikuchi. The only others – Sandy Alcantara and Spencer Strider – missed 2024 due to injury. So if you got an “A” or better in 2023, you either got a “B+” or better or got hurt in 2024. Pretty impressive hit rate.

Overall, 2024’s best four-seamers weren’t shy – they tended to be thrown at high velocity with plenty of vertical movement, though the trends with regard to spin and horizontal movement were less noticeable. Here is a table with all 2024 qualifiers’ four-seamer grades.