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.
Max Scherzer’s Slider – Scherzer’s Cy Young caliber season continued last night with his first 10 outs coming by way of the strikeout. This 0-2 pitch to Cody Bellinger has great bite as it falls underneath the hands of Bellinger as it moves out of the strike zone. Perfect placement.
Aaron Nola’s Curveball – Nola had a terrible outing last time he was on the mound, and he made up for it last night using his signature sweeping Curveball to mow down hitters. He does a great job burying this pitch to Nick Markakis down and in even if he may have missed his spot. The spin is beautiful to watch.
Koda Glover’s Slider – It looks like Glover said some not so nice words to Yasiel Puig after this pitch that caused a rare after the game is over benches clearing kerfluffle. The movement on the pitch is somewhat exaggerated by the catcher’s glove jerk, but at 94 MPH Puig was unable to make contact. Any cut at the speed is hard to put the bat on.
Chris Archer’s Slider – Archer has shaken on off a tough 2016 by throwing more Sliders than ever. He now throws his Fastball as often as his Slider, and hitters still can’t seem to hit the bender. This pitch causes Todd Frazier to lose helmet in desperation as he tries feebly to make contact.
Jaime Garcia’s Curveball – There’s something about the parabola of this Curveball to Aaron Nola that is mesmerizing to watch. It’s also interesting to note the stark difference between Garcia’s Curveball and Nola’s Curveball. The different paths to the plate show there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
James Paxton’s Curveball – I’m happy for both my PitcherList colleagues who are Paxton “Stans” and myself as GIF maker that Paxton is back abusing hitters. This Knuckle-curve to Miguel Sano has great late drop and brings Miguel Sano to one knee as he tries to dig the pitch out of the dirt. (Thanks to Redditor PendragonDaGreat for the tip!)
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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Kimbrel’s 3rd strike slider to Gregorious for his first K last night should be on here.
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