A question for Zach Britton: Is he throwing the best sinker of his career?

Zach Britton is having an amazing year for the Orioles. He is 3-1 with a 1.36 ERA along with 14 saves in 16 chances. He ranks second among American League relievers in batting average against (.181) and fifth in ERA. Over 46 1/3 innings, he's allowed just 28 hits with 13 walks and 37 strikeouts. Britton averages 7.2 strikeouts per nine innings and 2.5 walks per nine. He is getting out both left- (.180 average against) and right-handed batters (.181 average) with great frequency. Not bad for a pitcher that went to spring training out of options, but fortunately not out of chances with the club that drafted him in the third round out of Weatherford (Texas) High School in 2006. But it is the results he is getting with his mid- and sometimes high-90s sinker that is truly amazing. Among major league pitchers with 40 or more innings, Britton leads them all by getting 77.8 percent of his outs via the ground ball. He has a ground-to-air out ratio of 8.20 to one, which is remarkable. I asked Britton recently if this is the best sinker he's ever had. After remembering how well he had pitched using an at-times dominating sinker to start the 2011 season, his answer didn't surprise me. "I don't think so," Britton said. "I think that is what my fastball was doing in the minors and big leagues when I was healthy. To me, it's not surprising because I've had it before. Just about being healthy. "If anything, my arm angle is back to where it was before I got hurt and I've got a confidence level, trusting that pitch. Think I got away from that last year a little bit. Had some doubts about if it was an effective pitch for me. Just went back to doing what I did in the minors and with Dave (Wallace) and Dom (Chiti's) help, just really trusted the pitch and attacked the strike zone with it. That is the big thing." Some may forget that on his way up through the minors, Britton was a top pitching prospect. He was ranked No. 63 on Baseball America's top 100 before the 2010 season and No. 28 in 2011. He was the Orioles minor league Pitcher of the Year in 2010. He made his first major league start on April 3, 2011 and he was 5-2 with a 2.35 ERA in his first 10 big league starts. Scouts were raving about his power sinker. Now they are again. The former top prospect now finds himself in the bullpen and in the closer role. "It's been good," Britton said. "Trying to embrace being a reliever. Haven't put too much stock in what inning I'm throwing. "Dom and Dave have done a good job of easing me into that from all the way back in spring. Just learning as much as I can in this new role." On June 20, Britton suffered a blown save at Yankee Stadium when he gave up a three-run walkoff homer to Carlos Beltran in the last of the ninth. Since that game, Britton has made eight appearances, pitching eight scoreless innings on three hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. He is 5-for-5 in save chances since that game in New York, and three of those five saves required 10 or fewer pitches. Yep, he bounced back pretty well from that one. "All the guys in here understand you are not going to be perfect every day," he said. "I fully expect there will be more games I help this team win than lose. I just turned the page on it. I've had bad outings before. I didn't read too much into it. I knew I didn't make my pitches that day." Britton has been at the back end of a bullpen that has been a big key for an Orioles team that has won seven of eight and is 23-13 since May 31. "We're doing great. The pieces we've brought in from the minors are doing a great job," he said. "You see a guy like (Brad) Brach. He's really starting to come into his own a little bit. "(Ryan) Webb and Darren (O'Day) are throwing the ball great. Darren, over the course of the season, has probably gotten more important outs than anyone in the bullpen. I think he is underrated and overlooked for what he brings to our bullpen."