Through the playoffs, we’ll be featuring the nastiest pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious HD GIFs. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite pitch and check back after each round to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the Second Half Contest. Did we miss your favorite pitch? Send us a tweet next time @ThePitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
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Brandon Morrow’s Slider – Morrow has been excellent for the Dodgers out of the pen and he showcased some filthy stuff yesterday, dialing it up to 98mph while dropping this crazy good Slider at 93.1mph to Jayson Heyward. This pair of velocity and depth is something we rarely see.
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Justin Verlander’s At-Bat – It’s no secret that Verlander was dominant in every aspect for Saturday’s Game 2 victory over the Yankees and he displayed all of his tools to put away Gary Sanchez on three pitches. Watch him start with a Curveball, get a chase from a Slider, then freeze the Yankee catcher with 96mph heat over the plate. Beautiful.
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Justin Verlander’s Slider – We couldn’t resist another Verlander pitch during his complete game as he fanned Chase Headley with a deadly Slider that never stopped boring into the DH. It’s just so hard to lay off this pitch.
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Clayton Kershaw’s Curveball – Kershaw pitched over the weekend, which means it’s no surprise we’re featuring one of his famous Curveballs. This one to Javier Baez fell from the sky, inducing an awkward check-swing from the normally smooth infielder.
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Aroldis Chapman’s Slider – While his triple-digit heat gets most of the spotlight, Chapman wowed us with his slide piece on Saturday, fanning his first batter of the frame with the pitch down and away to Josh Reddick. This weak flail should tell you everything about how impossible it is to bat against Chapman’s stuff.
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Carl Edwards Jr.’s Curveball – Edwards is doing what he can to keep the Cubs in the NLCS, using his Curveball plenty to get terrible swings. He fanned plenty with the hook, though we loved the reaction Chase Utley gave us after being the deuce’s latest victim.
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Dallas Keuchel’s Fastball – Keuchel looked like his 2015 Cy Young self as he debilitated the Yankee offense on Friday. He did an excellent job pairing low locations with movement, such as this 3-2 Fastball to Greg Bird that had some nasty tail at the end to miss the slugger’s bat.
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David Robertson’s Curveballs – The Yankee bullpen is stacked, though Robertson has been the shining star through the postseason, thanks to a Curveball he’s improved over the years. Marwin Gonzalez had three chances to make contact with the filthy bender and left empty-handed each time.
GIF Of The Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the Second Half Contest.
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For the Verlander slider, is the slow-mo a different pitch? Looks like that slider is down in the dirt in the slow-mo, but by the knees at full speed.