Every week we review the nastiest pitches from the previous week 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.
Noah Syndergaard’s Fastball – Thor returned from exile to pitch in relief in the 7th of Tuesday’s game and immediately went to work. Watch him shut the door on Adam Eaton with this scorching 101 mph Fastball up in the zone. (Thanks to Redditor greybro for the tip!)
Joe Kelly’s Changeup – It was a struggle for Kelly in Toronto last weekend and the fourth inning dragged on for longer than he hoped. His repertoire is filled with lively pitches, though, and he used this Changeup to finally shut the door on the Blue Jays threat. Talk about lateral movement… (Thanks to Redditor chachasox for the tip!)
Madison Bumgarner’s Curveball – It was a fun day in the office for Bumgarner as he struck out eleven Braves to earn his seventh win of the season. This backwards K to Mallex Smith was his best of the night, freezing the speedster on a front-door Curveball.
Steven Wright’s Knuckleball – We have seen our fair share of knuckleballs from R.A. Dickey and Wright this season, though this pitch may be the best of the year. Watch as the ball seemingly stops and dances left-and-right before darting back over the plate. Catcher Ryan Hanigan didn’t even come close to catching the pitch. (Thanks to @leftykevin for the tip!)
Aaron Sanchez’s Curveball – Sanchez had his way with the visiting Yankees Wednesday night, collecting six strikeouts through 6.2 shutout frames. His Curveball was on point and used it to get a big whiff on Didi Gregorius in the fourth. (Thanks to Redditors PandaWrestler and TuloCantHitski for the tip!)
Yu Darvish’s Slider – It was a pleasure to see Darvish return to the hill for the first time since 2014 and he did not disappoint, striking out seven Pirates batters en route to the win. His first K of the game came to Andrew McCutchen who looked incredibly uncomfortable whiffing at this tight Slider. (Thanks to Redditor cjn13 for the tip!)
Christian Bethancourt’s Eephus – Position players taking the mound always make things interesting, especially when they’re willing to take some chances. This Eephus from the Padres utilityman clocked in at 53 mph, giving Seth Smith plenty of time to think about not swinging the bat.
Wei-Yin Chen’s Fastball – Chen was playing with history as he held a no-hitter in the seventh inning. It wasn’t meant to be, but we still got a look at some filthy pitches, such as this Fastball that has a boatload of late movement off the plate and away from Starling Marte’s bat.
GIF Of The Week
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the First Half contest.
[polldaddy poll=9437709]