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.
Congrats to Rick Porcello’s Fastball for winning GIF of the Week! The movement Porcello got on his Fastball was no match for the other candidates.
Rich Hill’s Curveball – Hill’s big looping hook is well known by now, but this pitch is a bit different. Facing left-hander Brad Miller, Hill elected to lower his arm angle even more to get additional sweeping action on his breaking ball, making the pitch dart across the entire plate and ending well in the opposite batter’s box. It’s incredibly difficult to lay-off and impossible to hit.
Felix Hernandez’s Changeup – It was a nine strikeout performance from the King as he faced the Angels on Sunday, and he gave us a good amount of pitches to choose from. This Changeup that featured terrific lateral movement and sink to Daniel Nava stood out above the rest.
Edinson Volquez’s Fastball – Volquez is capable of bringing the heat on any given night and with movement on top of it. He combined both perfectly in this pitch to Kelly Johnson, freezing him with a front-door Fastball to earn the backwards K. (Thanks to Redditor RM_Getaway for the tip!)
Trevor Bauer’s Curveball – The camera angle doesn’t do this Bauer pitch justice. Miguel Sano was forced to buckle his knees as this Curveball started its path gunning for his head, before it turned and dropped right into Chris Gimenez’s glove for the final out of the inning. Very well executed and fun to watch.
Chris Devenski’s Changeup – It wasn’t a fun day for Devenski in Boston as he allowed six earned runs in just six outs against the blazing hot Red Sox offense. He still made some solid pitches, including this terrific Changeup to Travis Shaw that collected his second out of the game. (Thanks to Redditor BarneyStinsbro for the tip!)
Kevin Gausman’s Splitter – It was Gausman’s first true test of the season facing the Tigers, and it didn’t quite go as planned. At least he can treasure the moment he induced a huge whiff from slugger Miguel Cabrera with a beautiful Splitter that simply dropped off the table. (Thanks to Redditor ruffyen for the tip!)
Mike Foltynewicz’s Fastball – It was the second start in a row where Folty cruised through the game, though this performance against the Royals was possibly the best we’ve seen him. This painted 96 MPH heater on the black is an excellent exhibition of the stuff he featured.
Chris Sale’s Slider – How can we not include Sale’s Slider? It’s too deadly of a pitch and as long as he keeps executing them perfectly like the one above to Gary Sanchez, we’ll keep adding it to these roundups.
GIF Of The Weekend
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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