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 @ThePitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
Gerrit Cole’s Slider – The Pirates are on a great run of comeback wins as their pitching has kept them in games enough for the offense to wake up in the later innings. Cole had a great start yesterday using his high velocity Fastball and Slider to put hitters away. This Slider to the picked on this week Travis Shaw has great depth and is spotted perfectly on the outside black.
Carlos Carrasco’s Changeup – Carrasco’s known for his great Slider that he throws a ton, but his Changeup is a great put away pitch in its own right. Carrasco’s Change piece is hard to pick out for me because with the huge drop he gets on the pitch it looks like a breaking ball at times. This beauty was thrown hard and with the dive of a Splitter. Unhittable for Brandon Crawford.
Justin Verlander’s Curveballs – Verlander pitched great last night and is a sleeper trade deadline piece for a Tigers team that is going nowhere fast, and needs to replenish its farm system. Verlander’s Curveball had great bite, and he was able to throw it for strikes or bury it down in the zone at will as Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas can respectively attest.
James Paxton’s Curveball – Paxton gobbles up the Ks like Pacman using two breaking balls that have sharp break, but thrown at different speeds. His back-foot Slider gets up to 90 MPH and his sharp Curveball is delivered in the low eighties with great depth. I could have chosen either pitch from last night numerous times, but I went with this Curveball to Jake Marisnick for Paxton’s 108th pitch to end his sterling performance. (Thanks to Pitcher List staff member @benjpalmer for the tip!)
Mike Montgomery’s Changeup – Theo and the Cubs seem to trust their pinpoint command starters to change speeds and eye levels and carry them past the Brewers in the tight NL Central. Montgomery is one of those starters, and he pitched extremely well last night using his Curveball, Slider and a great Changeup like this one to Johan Carmago that seems to have a high powered fan blowing at it from the catcher’s glove.
Carlos Rodon’s Slider – Rodon didn’t pitch well last night and has only shown brief flashes of brilliance in a tough 2017. He’s still got great stuff and the hope of many fantasy owners as this Slider to Chris Taylor exhibits. (Thanks to twitter follower @Mriz3 for the tip!)
Zach Davies‘ Curveball – Davies ran into the buzzsaw that is Gerrit Cole, but pitched very well in his own right and hopefully has turned a corner on what has been a bad 2017 for him after an encouraging 2016. This Curveball to David Freese is spotted beautifully and has a great sharp drop that causes David Freese to swing through viciously.
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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Gotta love Marisnick’s body language after whiffing that Paxton pitch!