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.
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Charlie Morton’s Curveball – Matt Olson realized a tiny bit too late that this pitch was going to make it back into the strike zone. Swing or no swing, the result would have been the same.
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Aaron Nola’s Fastball – Nola vs. Scherzer is always a good time, and makes for a particularly happy Nola Day when he strikes out eight with just one earned run. Any one of Nola’s pitches could be featured here, but I’m a particular sucker for two-seamers, and this one was just filthy.
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Cole Hamels‘ Changeup – The Cubs version of Hamels stayed red hot on Tuesday, striking out eight in five scoreless innings. He absolutely stupified Todd Frazier with this changeup off the plate, bringing the veteran straight to his knees.
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Jakob Junis‘ Slider – Junis looked excellent against the Tigers, throwing a complete game and getting seven strikeouts, with no walks. His trademark slider was on point as always, getting a huge whiff from Mikie Mahtook.
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Carlos Carrasco’s Curveball – Carrasco fanned 11 in 7.2 scoreless innings on Tuesday, using an array of pitches to flummox Twins hitters – including this nasty curveball to get a big whiff from Tyler Austin.
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Jace Fry’s Cutter – If you haven’t been paying attention to Jace Fry, he has 59 strikeouts in 41/1 innings, good for a 12.85 K/9. He is also getting occasional save opportunities in Chicago, which makes him worth a look in deeper leagues. His cutter here was located perfectly, getting another strikeout for the young left-hander.
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Max Scherzer’s Changeup – Scherzer was outdueled by Aaron Nola on Tuesday, but he still struck out five in five innings. Scherzer’s changeup had its trademark sharp break, here getting a big swing over the top from Carlos Santana.
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Dellin Betances‘ Slider – Unbeknownst to many, Betances is actually posting the best strikeout numbers of his career this year. His trademark hard slider that drops off the table is a big reason why, as evidenced by this huge strikeout of Yolmer Sanchez.
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Ryan Pressly’s Curveball – Pressly is having one of the best seasons of his career, with an excellent 12.59 K/9 and a 2.78 FIP. His curveball was bounding all the way across the strike zone here, freezing Matt Chapman right in his tracks.
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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C’mon degrom pitches an absolute gem and you couldn’t post one gif
I watched his entire start. Camera angles weren’t very good, it made his slider and fastball look perfectly straight. Didn’t go to his CH much. There wasn’t anything on there better than the 9 pitches I used.