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 Jharel Cotton’s Changeup for winning Nastiest Pitching GIF of the Week! A dirty changeup that Pedro Martinez says reminds him of himself.
Chris Sale’s Fastball – Sale has gotten off to a great start to his Red Sox career showing his velocity and command right off the bat. Here he uses a pristine Fastball right on the inside corner to get Rickie Weeks looking.
Stephen Strasburg’s Curveball – Despite all the injury concerns, Strasburg has been nothing short of dominant so far this season and continued the trend against the Phillies on Friday. Maikel Franco didn’t come close to touching this huge Curveball with luscious 12-6 action.
Aaron Nola’s Curveball – Nola has been a Pitcher List favorite since his debut last year, and has rocketed out of the gates this year. Nola has added a Changeup, but his bread and butter is finite command of his Fastball and Curveball. Here he throws a Curveball breaking out of the zone that causes Ryan Zimmerman to swing over the top.
Noah Syndergaard’s Changeup – We could feature a Syndergaard pitch after each one of his starts, which means that if we do it these days, it means the pitch is really really good. I think you’ll allow us to feature this offering as the ball disappears from the middle of the plate to the dirt in a hurry against Justin Bour.
Dellin Betances‘ Curveball – It seems like every time Betances pitches he throws a pitch worthy of this post. Here he uses his signature Curveball to get Aledmys Diaz to flinch and watch it fly by. Even when he misses his spot the stuff is so good hitters don’t know whether the Fastball or the Curveball is coming. (Thanks to Redditor jimmcdermont for the tip!)
Jacob deGrom’s Fastball – After allowing a pair of solo Hrs, deGrom came back with a three-pitch strikeout of Derek Dietrich, nailing the inside corner at 95mph to seal the deal. Sidenote: Check out how Dietrich tries so hard to get that arm guard to touch the ball as it heads to the glove…
Carlos Martinez’s Curveball – It was one of the odder starts you’ll see, with Martinez fanning eleven batters yet walking eight in the Bronx. Those 11 Ks shouldn’t come as much of a surprise when watching this breaker completely fool Starlin Castro in the third.
Craig Kimbrel’s Curveball – Kimbrel is having a much smoother 2017 after last year’s questionable campaign, as he hosts a 1.50 ERA thus far. He looked like his former Atlanta self over the weekend, punching out Rickie Weeks with this hook that never stops bending. Poor Weeks, getting featured twice in today’s roundup.
GIF Of The Weekend
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the Week Contest.
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I refuse to believe that Kimbrel’s is a curveball, that has slider spin all over it.
Side angle delivery makes it seem more like a Slider, but it’s a Knuckle-Curve through-and-through.
This is one of the nastiest set of nasty pitching gifs that I’ve seen on PL! The fastball placement by Sale/deGrom! Oh! But those curveballs are all SOOO nasty. I knew I was voting for Strasburg… until I scrolled and saw Nola’s… and then Betances’… and then Kimbrel’s. And to top it off, Thor’s change might be the straight nastiest of all of these!