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.
Alec Asher’s Fastball – Despite allowing a longball to Michael Taylor in the following at-bat, Asher impressed with a beautiful heater during his relief appearance Wednesday night. Matt Wieters left the box stunned after this 93mph Fastball ran back over the inside corner for strike three. (Thanks to Redditor Rockonfreakybro for the tip!)
Stephen Strasburg’s Changeup – It wasn’t the prettiest of Strasburg outings, though he induced plenty of whiffs across his start against the Orioles. Our favorite was this 91mph Changeup that fell right off the table to Manny Machado for the big first inning punchout. (Thanks to Redditor jimmcdermont for the tip!)
Yu Darvish’s Curveball – We wanted to see a little more dominance from Darvish as he faced the weak Padres offense, but we still got some filthy pitches from the Texas ace, like this 74mph Curveball that fell from the sky to fall elegantly into the glove for a called strike three.
Luis Perdomo’s Fastball – Perdomo’s foundation is built on a lively Two-Seam Fastball and Elvis Andrus was served a hefty helping of the pitch yesterday. Watch the Rangers shortstop give a stare down after swinging through the pitch in the fourth. (Thanks to @fawkes_mulder for the tip!)
Kenta Maeda’s Slider – Maeda pitched his longest outing of his career and was en route to a Complete Game Shutout before allowing a two-run bomb in the ninth. His Slider carried him along the way, with some crazy good offerings like this one to Jordy Mercer in the fifth.
Joe Smith’s Fastball – We’ve been featuring Smith a ton lately, but I just can’t get enough of his movement. Check out of the late horizontal bite on his heater here against Carlos Santana that looked too good to pass up.
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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Voted for Darvish but easily could have for Perdomo too. That two seamer is absolute filth.