Every Monday we review the nastiest pitches from the previous weekends’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. 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.
Congrats to Alec Asher’s Fastball for winning Nastiest Pitching GIF of the Week! That’s some serious movement on a 93mph Fastball.
Luis Garcia’s Fastball – Sometimes you see pitches that don’t seem real. “That has to be a Changeup or…a Screwball?” This Garcia heater blew our minds over the weekend, coming in at a blistering 95mph yet featuring a ton of sink and horizontal ride to induce a poor swing from Brian Goodwin. We’re going to see this pitch for a long time. (Thanks to @byBenHarris for the tip!)
Lance McCullers’ Curveball – The Yankees were no match for McCullers in Friday’s contest, as the Astros flamethrower fanned seven batters across six shutout frames. He set the tone early with his signature breaking ball getting slugger Gary Sanchez to flail at this Curveball that fell into the opposite batter’s box.
Aaron Sanchez’s Fastball – Sanchez returned from the DL and showcased his nasty stuff to the Mariners in a short, but productive outing. His #1 weapon is a lively Fastball with late bite, which Sanchez was able to pinpoint along the outside corner for the well deserved K.
Chris Sale’s Slider – I tried to convince myself not to include a Sale Slider today, but man is it pretty. This pitch is on a beeline to nail Kevin Kiermaier in the back before whizzing over the plate for a strike. It’s okay Kevin, we would have flinched too.
Charlie Morton’s Fastball – 99mph on the black with horizontal ride? Not a problem for Morton these days, stunning Gary Sanchez with the perfect two-strike pitch in the first inning of yesterday’s Astros win in the Bronx.
Alex Meyer’s Curveball – Meyer had himself a day, collecting seven strikeouts against the tough Tigers offense. He fanned Miguel Cabrera multiple times with his filthy hook, which shouldn’t come as a major surprise when you watch its wicked movement out of the zone.
Marcus Stroman’s Fastball – Today’s roundup features plenty of fantastic heaters and it would be a crime for this Stroman Fastball to get lost in the mix. It featured a boatload of drop at 94mph, leaving Tuffy Gosewisch with nothing but wind.
Max Scherzer’s Slider – Despite taking a line drive to his knee, Scherzer battled through the Phillies and was his dominant self. The start included an “immuaculate inning” where he fanned the side on nine pitches, with the second punchout coming on this superb Slider to Odubel Herrera.
GIF Of The Weekend
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the Week Contest.
[polldaddy poll=9747489]
Am I the only one who has trouble loading the gifs? Well, my browser does at least. The problem is consistent across multiple browsers and machines. Basically, I can only see the first one and maybe the second – the rest don’t play. With that being said, how about that Asher pitch!
I have the same issue on my work machine. The GIFs are very resource heavy and the processor can’t keep up. I have to refresh the page four or five times to be able to see them all. A nuisance yes but there are ways to get around it.