Every week we review the nastiest pitches from the previous week in glorious HD GIFs. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite pitch and and check back this weekend to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the First Half Contest, which will be live this All-Star week. 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.
Rich Hill’s Curveball – Hill broke out this weekend with a performance reminiscent of his sterling 2016 season. This back-foot Curveball has the parabola like feel of a Clayton Kershaw Curveball with more side to side movement. Jose Pirela had no chance.
Fernando Abad’s Changeup – Call it a Eephus if you like, this super slow pitch to Adrian Beltre made us all kinds of happy, making the Ranger third basemen take a knee as the ball floated into the middle of the strikezone. With pitchers touching triple digits often these days, seeing a 62mph pitch get a called strike is refreshing to say the least.
Jon Jay’s Eephus – The best part about blowouts are the opportunities to watch position players get their chance on the hill and Jay gave us what we wanted by getting a huge whiff from Domingo Santana on this 1-1 pitch. Baseball’s fun. (Thanks to @Xeez_, @cjzero, and @seancahill24 for the tip!)
Chris Sale’s Slider – Sale’s back-foot Slider is the more famous pitch here in the Roundup, but I’m partial to his back-door Slider. Hitters like Justin Smoak may be looking for the inside Fastball or the back-foot Slider, and then give up on the pitch before it breaks into the zone. Impressive.
Blake Treinen’s Fastball – Treinen probably deserves a spot in the Roundup every time he pitches with the ridiculous movement he gets on his Fastball at such great velocity. Here Brandon Nimmo gives up on a pitch at 99 MPH before the ball veers back into the strike zone. It’s a video game like pitch. (Thanks to Redditor efitz11 for the tip!)
Dellin Betances‘ Curveball – We feature Betances a good amount here, but with the amount of times he’s made batters look foolish, there’s no reason to hold him back. Who doesn’t enjoy watching Jose Bautista flinch on a pitch that lands in the middle of the plate?
Luis Castillo’s Fastball – The camera angle doesn’t do this pitch justice, but rookie Castillo was handed the task of mitigating the Rockies offense inside of Coors and impressed by striking out eight Colorado batters. If that’s not enough, this 100mph Fastball blown by Nolan Arenado for a strikeout in the fifth inning should do the trick.
Jose Berrios’ Curveball – We just couldn’t resist featuring the gorgeous breaking ball that is Berrios’ Curveball, especially as it zoomed its way back to nibble the outside corner. The Minnesota camera angle is a lovely thing.
GIF Of The Week
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the First Half Contest starting this Tuesday.
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