Emerson Hancock, the breakout star of the vaunted Mariners rotation in 2026, turned in another strong start last night against the Mets, going six innings with seven strikeouts and giving up just two runs, both on solo homers. This, in and of itself, is not particularly surprising; Hancock, one day after his 27th birthday, has settled into a steady hand in the Mariners rotation, and this kind of line now feels like just another day at the office for Hancock.
What is surprising is how he got there: last year, Hancock’s four seam-sinker combo accounted for over two-thirds of his pitches, with his changeup accounting for the bulk of the rest and a slider/sweeper rounding it out. He was a classic ***** ator, working within what Mario Delgado Genzor has termed the “pronator’s triangle.” Here’s Hancock’s pitch mix in 2025, with his particular ***** ator’s triangle skillfully drawn in for you:
A quick review, if you don’t know: Pitchers with a supination bias, or supinators, get on the outside of the ball as they release it (you can remember this by imagining scooping up a big spoonful of delicious soup), leading to glove-side movement. These kinds of pitchers excel at pitches that rely on horizontal movement like sweepers, cutters, and curveballs. Pitchers with ***** ation bias, on the other hand, stay to the inside of the ball, ending palm-out. ***** ators are able to get significant arm-side run. While ***** ators tend to throw a very spin efficient fastball, leading to more ride up in the zone, that comes at a cost of horizontal movement, limiting their options to enhance their ***** nals with things like sweepers or cutters.
But in 2026, Hancock changed up his pitch mix, somehow magically developing all those pitches that are supposed to be off-limits to ***** ators, as Michael Rosen examined in his article on FanGraphs about how Hancock dropped his arm angle and spin efficiency and in doing so escaped “low slot ***** ator jail”. All of a sudden we don’t have a triangle so much as we have…Massachussetts.
The cutter, while still classified as a hard pitch like the fourseam or sinker, has a totally different movement profile – while the sinker and four-seamer move armside, the cutter moves gloveside, although Hancock will still throw it to both sides of the plate, making things even less predictable for hitters.
What is surprising is how he got there: last year, Hancock’s four seam-sinker combo accounted for over two-thirds of his pitches, with his changeup accounting for the bulk of the rest and a slider/sweeper rounding it out. He was a classic ***** ator, working within what Mario Delgado Genzor has termed the “pronator’s triangle.” Here’s Hancock’s pitch mix in 2025, with his particular ***** ator’s triangle skillfully drawn in for you:
A quick review, if you don’t know: Pitchers with a supination bias, or supinators, get on the outside of the ball as they release it (you can remember this by imagining scooping up a big spoonful of delicious soup), leading to glove-side movement. These kinds of pitchers excel at pitches that rely on horizontal movement like sweepers, cutters, and curveballs. Pitchers with ***** ation bias, on the other hand, stay to the inside of the ball, ending palm-out. ***** ators are able to get significant arm-side run. While ***** ators tend to throw a very spin efficient fastball, leading to more ride up in the zone, that comes at a cost of horizontal movement, limiting their options to enhance their ***** nals with things like sweepers or cutters.
But in 2026, Hancock changed up his pitch mix, somehow magically developing all those pitches that are supposed to be off-limits to ***** ators, as Michael Rosen examined in his article on FanGraphs about how Hancock dropped his arm angle and spin efficiency and in doing so escaped “low slot ***** ator jail”. All of a sudden we don’t have a triangle so much as we have…Massachussetts.
The cutter, while still classified as a hard pitch like the fourseam or sinker, has a totally different movement profile – while the sinker and four-seamer move armside, the cutter moves gloveside, although Hancock will still throw it to both sides of the plate, making things even less predictable for hitters.
2 days ago
