The Astros are both seeing and throwing the fewest four-seam fastballs in the majors:

Talk to the man at the center of both of these trends, and it’s not such a big deal. “Everything like that is based on who you have on your team,” Brian McCann said. “You still have to pitch, and the name of the game is to have the ability to pitch to the hitter’s weakness. If you can pitch to that weakness, you have an advantage.”

Pitcher Brad Peacock was succinct: “I’m definitely playing keep away,” he laughed. He’s throwing the fewest fastballs of his career, like many other Astros. In fact, that’s a league trend. And teammate George Springer has noticed. “That’s a league-wide thing,” he told me. “A lot of guys are starting to go to the two-seamers because of the downward action and run, makes it harder to square up. The four-seamer, traditionally, is a little easier to square up… The league as a whole is starting to go to a lot more stuff that has deep downward action and is not that close to the plate.”

The most interesting part of the article is the way the Astros hitters clobber the high pitch. They slug well on the ball without striking out very much. Three home runs Thursday afternoon helped Houston beat the Athletics 12-9.