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 @ThePitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
Jameson Taillon’s Fastball – Taillon had 9 Ks last night and I could have picked almost all of them to be in the roundup today, but most impressive was this Fastball to Ty Kelly. At 96 MPH the ball starts on the outside third before moving sharply away from Kelly and into the opposite batter’s box. Filthy.
Clayton Kershaw’s Curveball – This may be blasphemy to older readers, but at what point does Kershaw put his name in the greatest pitcher of all time discussion? His reign of dominance has no end in sight, and as Paul Goldschmidt can testify, his stuff is only getting better with time.
Blake Treinen’s Fastball – Treinen probably deserves a spot in the Roundup every time he pitches with the ridiculous movement he gets on his Fastball at such great velocity. Here Brandon Nimmo gives up on a pitch at 99 MPH before the ball veers back into the strike zone. It’s a video game like pitch. (Thanks to Redditor efitz11 for the tip!)
Jameson Taillon’s Curveball – Taillon’s Curveball was his put away pitch yesterday, and he had it firing on all cylinders. Mark Leiter flinches badly here at a pitch that no hitter wants to see, let a lone a pitcher with a bat in his hands.
Corey Kluber’s Fastball – Kluber is on his typical midseason dominance run, and if not for Kershaw and Scherzer he’d be my pick for best pitcher in the majors. This two-seamer to Hector Sanchez starts right at his belt before breaking sharply and finishing close to the outer third. Klubot approves.
Felipe Rivero’s Fastball – Rivero has had a bit of a tough time throwing strikes since his move into the closer role, but his Fastball is lethal when he can spot it like he does here. 100 MPH on the black is tough to hit, even when it’s straight as an arrow, as Freddy Galvis can attest.
Brad Hand’s Slider – Hand throws three versions of his Slider, and the precision of his command with all three is why he’s top of the list for teams looking to trade for a reliever at the deadline. You can kind of see the point where this back-door slower version of the Slider breaks sharply toward the outside corner. Edward Encarnacion gave up on the pitch and was just praying it didn’t find the strike zone.
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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