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 @PitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
[gfycat data_id=”NegativeIllGalapagospenguin”]
Jake Arrieta’s Changeup – Perhaps the Phillies righty was an animator in another life, because the action on his changeup is straight outta Toontown. Nationals shortstop Trea Turner caught a firsthand look at the Bugs Bunny action, whiffing badly on this 1-2 corkscrew.
[gfycat data_id=”JollyFlakyGonolek”]
Noah Syndergaard’s Changeup – Thor wasn’t his most dominant self against the Rockies on Sunday, giving up four walks and striking out five in six innings. Still, his offspeed pitch featured silly movement, especially on this first-inning strikeout of Charlie Blackmon.
[gfycat data_id=”BrightLiveJay”]
Jakob Junis‘ Slider – The 25-year-old ramped up his slider usage from 34.3% heading into Sunday to 48.5% against the Tigers. That made for 48 total, as he induced swings on half and got 13 whiffs—many of them looking just as impressive as this one to John Hicks.
[gfycat data_id=”BeautifulUnsightlyAlbertosaurus”]
Hansel Robles‘ Two-Seamer – Sure, he took the loss Sunday, but Matt Harvey’s roster replacement was slinging heat against Trevor Story, firing off this 98 mph frisbee to hit the outside corner and ring up the Rockies shortstop.
[gfycat data_id=”WelcomeObviousGrayling”]
Chris Sale’s Slider – The one thing Ronald Guzman had going for him on this Sale obscenity is he didn’t let go of his bat as he bore himself into the earth. The Boston ace picked up 12 whiffs on his slider (23 overall) en route to 12 K’s in seven innings against the Rangers.
[gfycat data_id=”SkeletalMinorEnglishpointer”]
Max Scherzer’s Fastball – Scherzer dropped an outlandish 15 strikeouts on the Phillies in just 6.1 innings, inducing 24 swings and misses. Fourteen of those came on his fastball—as seen in the form of this rising, riding vortex on which Jorge Alfaro had no chance.
[gfycat data_id=”LargeSoupyGavial”]
Doug Fister’s Curveball – The Rangers veteran dropped the guillotine on Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts to pick up one of his five strikeouts in a 6-1 loss.
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.
[polldaddy poll=9997137]