When launch angle became a normal part of the baseball lexicon, major league pitchers started throwing more four-seam fastballs at the top of the strike zone, and sinkers seemingly fell out of style.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people refer to a new pitch as a “fad” or “craze.” It makes the pitch seem like a dumb parlor trick and it obfuscates what really happened. A “fad” pitch is ...