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.
CC Sabathia’s Slider – Sabathia brought his A-game against the Red Sox, silencing them across eight strong innings. He was spotting his Slider beautifully all night, and stunned Jackie Bradley Jr. in the second with this excellent front-door bender. (Thanks to Redditor dbr255 for the tip!)
Kelvin Herrera’s Fastball – Herrera is the last of the three-headed bullpen monster of the Royals’ playoff runs and has done a great job sealing victories for the squad. When you’re able to pump 99mph with life at the bottom of the zone, it’s pretty easy to get the job done, even if you’re facing Carlos Correa. (Thanks to Redditor Natrone011 for the tip!)
Zack Wheeler’s Curveball – There’s no secret Wheeler has the stuff to be a dependable starter for the Mets. Just check out the depth he gets on his Curveball, which gave Joey Gallo all kinds of trouble during Wednesday night’s contest. (Thanks to @maxtoscano1 for the tip!)
Rick Porcello’s Fastball – Porcello hasn’t been pitching with the same polish as his Cy Young year, though he still has it in him to make some gorgeous pitches. For example, look at the late horizontal bite on this beautiful inside Fastball to Chase Headley that earned a called strike three.
Clayton Kershaw’s Curveball – We know you’ve seen this pitch plenty of times, but is that a good enough reason to leave off yet another Kershaw Curveball? It’s one of the most beautiful pitches to watch in the majors.
Stephen Strasburg’s Fastball – There were plenty of Strasburg pitches to choose from, let it be his Changeup that falls of the table or his Curveball with wicked action, but we loved this heater that painted the outside corner to Logan Forsythe. Talk about hitting your spot.
Jason Vargas‘ Curveball – Vargas’s solid 2017 campaign continued against the Astros, and he was able to do so while forcing one of Houston’s hottest hitters to take a knee. George Springer’s reaction says it all.
Yu Darvish’s Curveball – Darvish has an incredible array of pitches to choose from in any count, and while he elects to throw his massive hook under 10% of the time, the pitch makes a big impact when he freezes hitters. Lucas Duda didn’t have a chance to hit this Curveball.
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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It warms my heart so much to see CC in here.