Every morning we review 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 this weekend to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the First 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.
Dellin Betances‘ Curveball – Dellin has had quite the inactive June as the Yankees have floundered this month, but he’s still ready and waiting for every oppurtunity Joe Girardi gives him. He misses his spot here badly, but his Curveball looks so much like Fastball out of his hand that Luis Valbuena still ends up swinging at a pitch that almost hits him. Great stuff doesn’t need great placement. (Thanks to Redditor Death215 for the tip!)
Corey Knebel’s Curveball – Knebel set a unique baseball record last night striking out at least one batter in his 38th straight relief appearance to start a season. Kind of a random record, but Knebel deserves the recognition as his Curveball is top notch, as Josh Bell can attest. Bell looks foolish swinging through this pitch.
Jose Quintana’s Curveball – Quintana had a tough May in which he had two starts with 7 ER or more, but seems to have smoothed things over in June. He had 9 Ks last night including this sharp Curveball to get Miguel Sano.
Jake Arrieta’s Curveball – Arrieta may never get back to the heights of his 2015 season, but he’s still an effective pitcher if somewhat volatile. This Curveball to Jeff Locke is helped by the camera angle, where Arrieta stands on the rubber, and his across the body style mechanics. Cool looking pitch.
Aaron Nola’s Fastball – Sometimes Nola’s command can get away from him and his inside Two-seamer will leak out toward the middle third happy zone for lefty hitters, but when on, Nola’s Two-seamer is one of the best in the biz. This GIF of a pitch to Matt Carpenter shows the sharp veer Nola’s Fastball takes on its way to the plate. Matt Carpenter was displeased, but it’s a strike.
Domingo German’s Curveball – German reminds me of Luis Severino from last year, great stuff, but little idea where it’s going. This pitch to Luis Valbuena is a Curveball, but German doesn’t seem to get fully on top of the pitch so it fades away from the lefty Valbuena almost like a Screwball. German has a bright future, but he still has some kinks to work out even when he’s inducing swings and misses.
GIF Of The Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the First Half Contest.
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