Bibee mentioned the greater use of his sinker as the main reason for his recent turnaround, Tim Stebbins of MLB.com reports. "It just feels like a real weapon, where I can really lean on it to get quick outs," the right-hander said Friday. "Or I still can have guys freeze on it... It opens up a lot of stuff."
Bibee, who is Sunday's scheduled starter against the White Sox, changed up his pitch mix following a disastrous outing against the Nationals on May 25, when he gave up seven runs and five home runs over three innings. In the six starts since then, he's made throwing the sinker a priority, using it 37.2 percent of the time, and the change has resulted in a 2.29 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and 28:8 K:BB over 39.1 innings. The sinker has also made his four-seamer and cutter more effective, as his opponents' batting average and hard-hit rates have dropped against each pitch. What would really help Bibee, who is 2-9 over 18 starts, is more help from his teammates; his 2.78 runs of support ranks 133rd out of 136 pitchers with at least 10 starts.