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 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 Josh Osich’s Fastball for winning GIF of the Week! Watching a ton of horizontal movement at 98 mph is hard not to love.
Chris Sale’s Slider – It’s hard to resist a good Sale Slider, but this one was fantastic as it stunned Darwin Barney for the strikeout. Notice how far it starts off the plate before gliding back across the outside corner for the punchout.
Drew Butera’s Fastball – It’s always fun seeing position players pitch, and Butera has flexed his ability before, making this perfectly placed 91 mph heater a little less of a shock. Still, Marwin Gonzalez has to be a bit frustrated with himself after being Butera’s only strikeout victim on the night. (Thanks to Redditor accio7 for the tip!)
Kevin Gausman’s Split-Change – Gausman was on top of his game against the Rays on Saturday, fanning seven across 7.2 innings. His Split-Change was on point, and got Jaff Decker to flail at this heavy pitch out of the zone. (Thanks to Redditor supermegaultrajeremy for the tip!)
Jose Fernandez’s Curveball – Another day, another 13 K outing for JoFer as he leads all starters in K% (Over 37%!). He had a tough matchup against the Cubs on Sunday, but his “defector” was enough to swing the odds in his favor. His best of the night may have been this breaker that Anthony Rizzo didn’t come close to hitting.
Anthony DeSclafani’s Fastball – Tony Disco pitched his second start of the season against the Padres, and it went as well as you’d imagine, pitching eight frames of shutout ball. He was getting excellent action on his Two-Seamer, including this beautiful front-door heater to Alexi Amarista for the backwards K.
Madison Bumgarner’s Curveball – While Bumgarner ended up with the Loss against the Phillies after surrendering three earned runs, he still made some excellent pitches across the afternoon. For example, check out this Curveball that froze opposing pitcher Jeremy Hellickson to end the third.
Max Scherzer’s Changeup – The Scherz still has trouble limiting longballs, though his stuff is as electric as ever. His Changeup in particular is inducing whiffs over 20% of the time, which makes perfect sense after watching Aaron Hill swing over this fading slowball.
A.J. Griffin’s Curveball – Griffin returned from the DL just in time as the Rangers have been hit with the injury bug. He got the job done against the Red Sox, and used this slooooow Curveball to Hanley Ramirez to escape trouble in the fourth inning. (Thanks to Redditor Dontworryaboutit1 for the tip!)
GIF Of The Weekend
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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