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.
Luis Castillo’s Fastball – If you’ve been reading my daily SP Roundup articles, you’ll know just how enamored I am with this hard throwing rookie from Cincinnati. His command of his blistering Fastball is as seducing as you’ll find, with a great example coming in the sixth inning as he spotted the corner at 99mph to Keon Broxton. You’ll be seeing his name plenty over the years.
Stephen Strasburg’s At-Bat – Sometimes it’s all about getting off on the right foot and Strasburg wasn’t messing around from the very first pitch of the game, fanning Anthony Rizzo with each of his three pitches 1-2-3. It’s not every day you see a starter throw a Curveball to open a ballgame, but it worked and it was beautiful. (Thanks to Redditor gpgpg for the tip!)
Marcus Stroman’s Slider – It was one of Stroman’s excellent evenings as he nearly made it through eight full frames against the Blue Jays. He was working his Slider well and it had some excellent bite to avoid Mark Trumbo’s bat in the fourth frame.
Adam Wainwright’s Curveball – Watching a signature Waino hook is as nostalgic as it gets watching a modern baseball game and he pulled off a beautiful one last night against the Diamondbacks. We also got a great look at his “pop the gun” grip and release of the pitch as he pulls down the baseball with his middle finger, raising his index finger in the air.
Andrew Miller’s Sliders – Miller is still as filthy as always and he struck out the side in the eighth inning with three gorgeous Sliders. We couldn’t choose which to feature, so we did the only logical thing and made a GIF of all three of them. Of course.
Alex Meyer’s Curveball – Meyer is a constant strikeout threat for the Angels and it’s because of a big Curveball with a ton of drop. He fanned the likely 2017 NL ROY with the pitch in the first as it disappeared to his ankles in a hurry.
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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Was that last pitch from Strasburg’s sequence a changeup? Hard to imagine a 92-mph changeup
Yes it was. Crazy, right?
The 3 sliders from Cam Bedrosian on Bellinger were also pretty nasty.