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 @PitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
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Luis Castillo’s Changeup – Castillo generated eight whiffs with his changeup on Tuesday, and it’s hard to imagine how anyone made contact at all. This pitch has wicked arm side run, leaving Jose Reyes gasping for air.
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Luis Severino’s Slider – Severino’s slider is harder than a lot of pitchers’ fastball. But instead of staying straight, Sevvy’s bender dives down and in at the last possible moment, making it a nearly impossible pitch to hit. His slider generated six swinging strikes on the day, and poor Rafael Devers nearly pulled a muscle trying to make contact with this pitch – to no avail.
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David Robertson’s Curveball – Robertson’s curveball is a work of art. Like a Monet or a Picasso, it’s beauty transcends time. Jackie Bradley Jr./strong> would have been better off admiring this beauty than trying to hit it, which he failed miserably at.
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Aaron Nola’s Changeup – Nola day was a resounding success on Tuesday, with the right-hander getting 12 strikeouts in seven strong innings of work. He induced six whiffs with his nasty changeup, including this embarrassing check swing from Andrew McCutchen. Checkmate.
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James Paxton’s Curveball – Close your eyes and pick any one of Paxton’s 99 pitches from Tuesday and it was probably pretty darn nasty. The Canadian threw a spectacular no-hitter in Toronto yesterday, and he kept it under 100 pitches, earning himself a Maddux. Check out this curveball that starts out looking like a strike before dive bombing into the dirt, well away from the bat of Josh Donaldson.
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Lance McCullers’ Fastball – It wasn’t the best start for McCullers, but it’s hard not to love his nasty two-seam fastball, especially when it makes its way right onto the bottom of the strike zone. Not much that Marcus Semien could have done with this pitch even if he had decided to take a hack.
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Tyler Olson’s Curveball – Remember Tyler Olson? The LOOGY threw 20 scoreless innings last year. While he hasn’t had quite the same success this year, he still has this big, loopy breaking ball at his disposal. He pulled it out here against Ryan Braun, leaving him golfing for air.
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Carl Edwards’ Fastball – When a pitcher can start a pitch just off the plate and run it even further away, while getting the batter to chase, it’s very likely going to end up on this list. In this case we have Carl Edwards running 95 up and out, getting poor Starlin Castro chasing.
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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Thanks! And thanks for sharing your great posts every week!