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 Second 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.
Sonny Gray’s Slider – Gray’s unusual repertoire of breaking pitches was profiled back in June by Eno Sarris over at Fangraphs, and this pitch is a good example of the variance in Gray’s arsenal. This hard Slider breaks sharply under the hands of Asdrubal Cabrera for the K.
Kyle Hendricks‘ Changeup – Hendricks Fastball was only running about 85 MPH last night, but with his precision command and the use of a baffling Changeup Hendricks continues to fool hitters. This pitch to Billy Hamilton seems to fade away for an eternity before it ends up in the opposite batter’s box.
Madison Bumgarner’s Curveball – Bumgarner didn’t pitch particularly well last night, but he struck out the side in the 5th. He started it off with this Rich Hill like side arm Curveball to Giancarlo Stanton with ridiculous horizontal movement.
Luis Castillo’s Changeup – Castillo has been a revelation since his callup this year, and he is showing the potential of a top of the rotation starter. Castillo uses his big Fastball with crazy movement most of the time, but when he needs to keep hitters off balance he uses a good Changeup like this one to Victor Caritini.
Brad Peacock’s Slider – Peacock has always been death to righty batters, but this year he’s shown some improvement getting those pesky lefties out as well. This pitch to Gregor Blanco looks like a Fastball in his happy zone before it breaks sharply off the plate. Dirty.
Francis Martes‘ Inning – Martes had a great 6th inning last night using his Slider and a 100 MPH to strike out the side. Martes shows the stuff of a high leverage bullpen option, but if he can develop a third pitch he has potential as a starter. (Thanks to @BenJPalmer for the tip!)
GIF Of The Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the Second Half Contest.
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