Every Monday we review the nastiest pitches from the previous weekends’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. 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.
Congrats to Corey Kluber’s Fastball for winning Nastiest Pitching GIF of the Week! It’s crazy good movement helped it edge out the precision of Chris Sale’s heater.
Charlie Morton’s Curveball – Morton had a career game against the Athletics, fanning 12 batters en route to a Win. The main weapon in his arsenal was a Curveball that consistently dove into the ankles of left-handers, and this offering to Stephen Vogt made our jaws drop.
Michael Pineda’s Slider – April has been kind to Pineda as he continues to forge a new path of consistency for the Yankees. He made easy work of the Orioles on Saturday with his Slider taking center stage for eight strikeouts. Watch its sharp break as Seth Smith takes a hefty hack.
Drew Pomeranz’s Curveball – The Dirty Cheerleader has settled into his role well in Boston and had an impressive start against the Cubs on Friday night. Jason Heyward struggled against the southpaw’s Curveball all evening, with his first strikeout coming on this hook that disappeared from the strikezone out of nowhere.
Marcus Stroman’s Slider – Stroman put up yet another impressive performance over the weekend, fanning ten Rays in 7.1 frames. His slide piece was getting plenty of empty swings with some beautiful action, like this one to Logan Morrison for the strikeout.
Danny Salazar’s Changeup – It’s too bad the Indians have an off-set camera angle or we’d be able to truly appreciate the wicked drop Salazar gets on his Split-Changeup. With that in mind, being able to grasp how far this pitch tumbled against Ben Gamel speaks volumes. (Thanks to @filmcolossus the tip!)
Yu Darvish’s Slider – We could feature a pitch from each of Darvish’s starts, setting a high bar for us to feature him in these roundups. We couldn’t say no to this Slider that had great late bite and dove away from Yunel Escobar’s bat. (Thanks to @ryneufeld for the tip!)
JC Ramirez’s Curveball – Ramirez has been a pleasant surprise for Angel fans greiving over the DL stint of Garrett Richards. Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus showed us his approval of the flamethrower’s stuff, nodding after swinging right over this heavy hook in Sunday’s game.
Andrew Triggs‘ Slider – By stepping toward the right-handed batter and slinging across his body, Triggs is able to a boatload of extra horizontal bend on his pitches. His Slider is no exception as it swiftly fell off the outside corner. His extreme angle made it incredibly tough for Yulieski Gurriel to lay off and we don’t blame him for the big whiff. (Thanks To Redditor eggsmith 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 Week Contest.
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