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 Second 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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Chris Archer’s Slider – Archer did his two-pitch two-step (yeah, yeah, we know he has a changeup) to 17 swinging strikes (nine on his slider)—though he only picked up three K’s in the process. Still, he had Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo fishing on this beautiful breaker.
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Jeremy Jeffress‘ Two-Seamer – Another reliever who has the type of head-shaking stuff that can make you wonder why the hell he can’t hold down a closing job, Jeffress is a straight-up predator at times. This fastball to Buster Posey is Exhibit A, as the Giants catcher didn’t have much of a shot on the inside heat.
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Matt Davidson’s Curveball – Hey, the White Sox aren’t playing for anything, why not throw Davidson out there again and save the bulpe—what the hell? Toronto’s Teoscar Hernandez’s eyes grew as large as the hanging curveball he thought he was seeing from the position player, until it was under his bat and into Omar Narvaez’s glove. Whatever this is, give us more of it, please.
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Carlos Carrasco’s Curveball – The Cleveland righty had his hook working against the Tigers, inducing nine whiffs with it on his way to eight K’s on 97 pitches. Victor Reyes gave a little head nod to its excellence after this seventh-inning swing-and-miss.
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Jordan Hicks‘ Sinker – It was tempting to include this 100 mph sinker, but though it shattered Albert Almora Jr.’s bat, it ended up as a ball in play—however weak the result was. So we’ll have to settle for 103 mph heat with movement that came at Jason Heyward’s expense.
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Max Scherzer’s Cutter – Scherzer jammed up Miami’s Justin Bour on a night he hit 200 K’s for the year. The Nationals ace picked up 11 strikeouts over eight innings behind 19 swinging strikes.
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Mike Foltynewicz’s Slider – Folty back-footed L.A.’s Max Muncy with this first-inning slide piece, turning the breakout star into one of his eight strikeout victims on the night. Still, he took the loss behind two home runs and four earned runs allowed.
GIF of the Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below, and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the Second Half Contest.
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Jordan Hicks throws some FILTH. Love watching him.
I mean, this should have unanimously been Davidson. Come on people!