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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Chaz Roe’s Slider – Is Roe the best pitcher on this list? Of course not. He’s a journeyman reliever with a career 3.78 FIP. But on a day when pitches from Luis Severino, Aaron Nola, Luis Castillo and Corey Kluber were left on our cutting room floor, Roe’s slider stood out. Again. It’s one of the beautiful accidents of our universe, and we should all just sit back and enjoy it together—even if Baltimore catcher Caleb Joseph didn’t.
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Dylan Bundy’s Slider – After The Start That Shall Not Be Named his last time out, Bundy struck out seven over seven shutout frames in the Orioles’ 17-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. He did so with a slider that got him 10 swings and misses on 28 thrown (35.7%). Here, Brad Miller was all torque and no bite.
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Rich Hill’s Curveball – Joey Votto thought he had a bead on this swooping Hill curve, but he ended up chucking his bat and helmet into the dirt—and probably muttering some words his mom wouldn’t approve of. Still, the swinging-strike rate is down to 7.3% (from 12.2% in 2017) on the lefty’s hook, which is partially why he deserves every bit of his 6.20 ERA (6.88 bbFIP).
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Shohei Ohtani’s Fastball – The two-way star’s curveball, slider and splitter were all up for consideration here, but when a guy can set up his secondaries with such control on his 98 mph heater, everything else takes a back seat.
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Dallas Keuchel’s Changeup – It’s almost as the Astros lefty whispered to this ball that Delino DeShields‘ bat would do bad things to it if it let itself get caught, as it dove away at the last moment like it was running for its life. Keuchel struck out eight over seven frames in a 6-1 win.
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Arodys Vizcaino’s Two-Seamer – Miami’s Derek Dietrich turtled up on the approach of this 97 mph heater, and you can’t really blame him. Luckily for his hands, it swooped toward the plate and caught the inside corner, leaving him in a contemplative state and with one fewer strike at his disposal.
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Brad Peacock’s Slider – The 30-year-old righty struck out the side in the ninth inning to wrap up the Astros’ 6-1 win over the Rangers. Above, he leaned on his slider to embarrass Texas’ Jurickson Profar.
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Andrew Miller’s Slider – Josh Hader may be the newest version of the multi-inning bullpen hitman, but here Miller reminds everyone those bloodlines trace back to his throne. Take a seat, Jon Jay.
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Joe Jimenez’s Changeup – Jimenez did Mariners second baseman Jean Segura dirty with this right-on-right change, but the offering is even more impressive when you consider he set it up with the previous pitch by painting a 97 mph fastball on the outside black.
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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