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.
Jeff Samardzija’s Fastball – It’s been a fun ride for Samardzija in San Francisco, sporting a 2.66 ERA across his first nine starts for the club. He continued to impress Thursday night against the Padres, earning one of his eight strikeouts with this perfectly placed Two-Seamer on the outside corner to Melvin Upton Jr. at 95 MPH. (Thanks to Redditors mubbcsoc and rusticate for the tip!)
Stephen Strasburg’s Curveball – Strasburg has been at the top of his game in 2016 and helped make a statement against the Mets in Citi Field last night. He threw plenty of top notch pitches, but this wicked hook that spun Yoenis Cespedes in the batter’s box took the cake. Sure, it may have been just out of the strikezone, but it’s too satisfying of a pitch to ignore. (Thanks to Redditor gpgpg for the tip!)
Marco Estrada’s Changeup – Sometimes the best Changeup is the one with the least movement. Estrada throws an incredibly straight Four-Seam Fastball, which means that an incredibly straight Circle-Changeup over 10 MPH slower will miss plenty of bats. He executed it perfectly last night against Miguel Sano right on the inside corner for the well deserved strikeout.
Tyler Thornburg’s Curveball – The Brewers don’t get much love here in the roundup, but when good pitches are thrown we feature them. Thornburg was called upon to shut the door against the Cubs and maanged to squeeze by as he struck out two in the inning. His first came on this vicious hook against Javier Baez that featured some serious drop.
Blake Treinen’s Slider – It wasn’t Cespedes’ night in New York, striking out a second time on this filthy Blake Treinen Slider. The late break on this pitch is just absurd. (Thanks to Redditor gpgpg for the tip!)
Collin McHugh’s Curveball – It hasn’t been the smoothest of seasons for McHugh thus far, but he went nearly toe-to-toe with Chris Sale in Chicago Thursday evening. His deuce was looking as pretty as ever and snuk under Jimmy Rollins‘ bat for the strikeout in the fifth.
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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