Kevin Gausman reveals plans to add a new weapon to his arsenal next season

It was a strange season for the Toronto Blue Jays and an even stranger one for Kevin Gausman. The staff ace had a 2024 campaign that perhaps encapsulated the oddness of the season more than anyone else on the roster.

Gausman had a very un-Gausman-like start to the season. He got off to a slow start thanks to a wonky shoulder, posting a 4.50 ERA in the first half. He bounced back with a 2.92 second-half ERA and helped the rotation turn things around and become one of the best in the league. His final numbers were decent but a far cry from where he finished in 2023.

Kevin Gausman's sinker will add another weapon to his arsenal in 2025

Turning 34 before Opening Day next season, the 2023 Cy Young finalist is preparing to come back with a vengeance — and a new pitch in his arsenal.

Well, what is sort of a new pitch.

In a recent appearance on the Deep Left Field podcast, Gausman revealed that he’ll be working on his sinker over the offseason. It’s not an entirely new pitch for him, but if he can master the fastball variation, it should add a new wrinkle to his repertoire for the 2025 season.

"So it'll be nice to be able to work on my sinker in the offseason and have a full offseason of throwing it because I didn't throw that in the offseason," Gausman told host Mike Wilner. "And I know that it's going to be a big pitch for me next year, and so having a whole offseason of throwing that, I think is going to be huge for me."

Gausman relied heavily on his four-seam fastball and splitter in 2024 while mixing in a slider at times. The right-hander also lightly dabbled with a sinker this season, throwing 156 of them (5.4 percent usage). Before this past season, he hadn’t thrown a sinker since his time with the Baltimore Orioles. In 2017, he threw it once, according to Statcast. He used the offering 140 times in 2016 and 36 times in 2015.

Used primarily against right-handed batters when he did use it this past season, the sinker started out like gangbusters in 2024. However, it finished as his worst pitch, at least by opponent's batting average (.316) and slugging percentage (.579). However, it generated the highest percentage of ground balls (55.6 percent) and the lowest average exit velocity of all his pitches (84.3 mph).

While MLB hitters have known to expect a steady diet of four-seamers and splitters from Gausman over the past few seasons, his mitch mix in 2025 will look very different if the Blue Jays' ace gets a good handle on the sinker this winter.