Power Sweepers: Pitching’s Next Evolution?

The sweeper seems to be a pitch that has taken on a life of its own over the past few seasons. More horizontal movement generated by sacrificing velocity (generally). But maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. With an average velocity a couple ticks below the traditional slider (85-86 mph), a sweeper usually sits at 82 to 83 mph. But it has become a powerful weapon and a popular pitch to add to pitch arsenals for those looking for an added swing-and-miss pitch.

What is now seen as potentially the next evolution in pitching trends will be a move to a power slider. A tighter slider thrown at a higher velocity and characterized more by vertical drop than horizontal break. That prompted me to ask whether the same high-velocity idea could also be applied to sweepers. This is where I wanted to investigate the concept of a power sweeper. These pitches are Statcast-classified sweepers that are thrown harder than even the average slider, a group I have defined here as 86 mph and up, rounded.

From a fantasy perspective, this trending pitch could become more prevalent in seasons to come, and targeting those who already have a strong iteration of it in their arsenal could be prudent.

In this chart, I have mapped all pitchers who have thrown sweepers so far in 2026, both starters and relievers. The y-axis is measured on horizontal break, or sweep, and the x-axis is velocity. As mentioned, I have drawn the cutoff at pitchers with an average velocity of the same or greater than that of the average of a traditional slider.

The Standard Setters

The gold standards of the power sweeper. Two clear pitchers have seemingly already got this potentially trending pitch working. Jesús Luzardo, after a tough start to the season, has slowly whittled his ERA down as the season has progressed and has demonstrated his sky-high ceiling on numerous starts since the start of June. But in fact, his expected numbers have been good all season, and I identified him as a pitcher I had big expectations for in my piece noting his early-season struggles at home.

Luzardo’s arsenal has stayed fairly consistent since he moved from Miami to the city of brotherly love, but the usage has always been in flux. His biggest change is a shift from a slider to a sweeper. I mentioned earlier that the sacrifice that comes with morphing or adding a sweeper is velocity, but Luzardo somehow added 8.6 inches of break while gaining 3 ticks of velocity on the slider he threw in 2024 in Miami.

It is now his primary pitch to lefties and his most-used secondary pitch to righties, and the numbers are pretty ridiculous: a 49.1% whiff rate and a 52.5% strikeout rate, while holding hitters to a .122 average and a .183 xwOBA across 888 pitches. He throws it at 86.1 mph with 38.1 inches of drop but only 8.6 inches of horizontal break; the pitch wins on velocity and deception rather than sweep. At 5 mph faster than the average left-handed sweeper, it doesn’t need much horizontal break to be effective. Even though it sweeps far less than the other pitches on this list, it plays off his 97 mph four-seam up and in, so it comes out of the same slot and breaks away hard and late. That contrast, not the movement on its own, is what drives the whiff rate and makes it so hard to square up. The sweeper ends up 30.4 inches of total movement away from his four-seam, the widest gap of any pitch in his arsenal. 

The power sweeper is a weapon that makes Luzardo a great option going into 2027 from a fantasy perspective, and one I am already looking forward to targeting.

Additionally, Gavin Williams also throws this power sweeper more than any pitch. He is a pitcher I have written about recently in relation to his velocity gains on his four-seam. But given the profile of his power sweeper, it’s a pitch I simply could not ignore. A sweeper sitting at 87.5 mph, with 10.7 inches of horizontal break, a 43.1% whiff rate, a 45.9% strikeout rate, and an xwOBA of .217, is frankly insane.

You can see the power sweeper in effect here, this Bellinger strikeout on one above 90 mph.

Similarly to Luzardo, Williams’ pitch also plays incredibly well off his fastball, with a similar 30-inch break and a nine mph gap. He throws it heavily to both sides, 38% to righties and 29% to lefties, which is a lot of sweeper usage against opposite-handed hitters. He sits in the 96th percentile for strikeout rate and near the top of the league for weak contact, third percentile in hard-hit rate.

Williams and Luzardo will both be early-to-mid round picks in 2027 fantasy drafts. Their stuff gives them sky-high ceilings, and a power sweeper as a primary secondary pitch, getting whiffs over 40% of the time, makes them strong fantasy bets.

Rookies With It In The Locker

There are two rookies on this list who don’t throw the pitch often, but have room to lean on it further in 2027 given how well it’s worked in 2026, both of whom have seemed to recur in numerous pieces I have done this year. Brandon Sproat, recently optioned to Triple-A, has no fantasy value for 2026, but given his workload this year, he warrants inclusion. His sweeper has more bite than both Luzardo and Williams, featuring pretty high on the y-axis as a result. He is able to throw his sweeper above 86 mph on average and still get more horizontal movement than a pitcher like Manaea, who has one of the slowest sweepers in the league.

But thrown just 10% of the time this season, it wasn’t a pitch he utilized a ton. We know how much the Brewers as an organization love to utilize the cutter, which he threw more than twice as much at 21%, but the problem is his cutter wasn’t an effective pitch. Hitters have crushed it for a .714 slugging mark and a .479 wOBA. Yet Sproat’s sweeper has been comfortably his most effective pitch, generating a 40.3% whiff rate and a 40.4% strikeout rate while holding hitters to a .156 xBA and a .254 xwOBA. It will be interesting to see how much the Brewers stick to this philosophy as we move into 2027.

The other name is Walbert Ureña. He also throws his power sweeper just 15% of the time, but given it’s his only pitch that moves glove side, that usage could definitely increase given his ability to throw it effectively. His four-seam, sinker, and changeup all run arm-side, so the sweeper is the lone look moving the other way, and it’s been his most effective pitch by expected numbers, a .211 xBA and .251 xwOBA with a 35.9% whiff rate and a 35.6% strikeout rate. But as is the story with Ureña, his challenge in future seasons will be locating it. Despite his power sweeper naturally grading out with a Stuff+ of 121, its Location+ is just at 89. Again, he is a pitcher in keeper and dynasty formats I am high on, given his ceiling if you can stash him for next year.

Final Notes

The note about Sproat’s cutter-heavy arsenal also applies to Dustin May; while his power sweeper actually grades out well, his cutter usage has doubled since being traded to the Brewers, and most of that has come at the expense of his sweeper. This could also foreshadow Sproat’s usage, or lack thereof, of his sweeper in future seasons; maybe we shouldn’t hold our breath.

The power sweeper is a pitch I anticipate we will see more of; already, there are a lot of pitchers who can get up to that velocity, and pitchers’ ability to add pitches and morph their arsenals continues. But this group already has that foundation set, and the potential is clear for both top-end arms and upcoming rookies.