Indians pitcher Bryan Shaw is using the spring to try and work on a sinker to give himself a new weapon against left-handed batters, but the pitch has been inconsistent and caused him to fall behind in counts often, MLB.com reports.
"It's first pitch to every hitter and then trying to mix it in as much as you can," Shaw said. "It's just obviously different from the way that I throw. I cut everything, so it's just trying to basically manipulate it to do something different. It's obviously not quite working."
Shaw has surrendered a .745 OPS to left-handed batters in his career while limiting right-handed batters to a .566 OPS.
"He's messed around with [a sinker] in the past," pitching coach Mickey Callaway said. "But he's never really thrown it in a game. It's just something he can throw to lefties. Obviously, he had his struggles with lefties last year. So, he's trying to figure out something he can throw away to lefties and keep it out away from them."
Shaw has surrendered 12 runs (six earned) in 4 2/3 innings this spring.