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. 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.
Steven Wright’s Knuckleball – Boston’s knuckleballer went the distance, striking out six over nine innings Monday. He threw plenty of excellent Knuckleballs, but this one was so good you can count the seams all the way in as it doesn’t even make a full revolution. (Thanks to Redditor TheBrimic for the tip!)
Dylan Bundy’s Curveball – Bundy pitched three innings in relief and struck out three batters Monday in Texas. Everything’s bigger in Texas, including this Curveball that completely baffles Bobby Wilson. (Thanks to @JeffLongBP for the tip!)
Clayton Kershaw’s Slider – Even though we didn’t get to see the heavyweight bout between Strasburg and Kershaw due to injury, the Dodgers ace still put on a show, striking out eight batters over seven innings. This picture-perfect back-foot Slider to Jayson Werth reminded us why Kershaw is the best in the biz.
Doug Fister’s Curveball – Fister doesn’t always strike out batters (just a 5.69 K/9 this season), but when he does, he strikes them out with style. Just watch this 69 mph Curveball drop right off the ledge in front of Yunel Escobar.
Jaime Garcia’s Slider – Garcia may not have righted the ship just yet, but his 6 2/3 innings against the Cubs on Monday was encouraging. Let’s hope that he gets back to making batters look ridiculous, like he did here by getting Anthony Rizzo to chase a sweeping Slider across state lines.
Jeremy Hellickson’s Curveball – The Philadelphia starter gave up three runs in the first inning Monday, but was able to settle in for six more scoreless innings to finish the outing. This nasty Curveball buckled the knees of Shelby Miller, resulting in one of Hellickson’s six strikeouts.
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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Christopher Chase Edmunds is a writer for Pitcher List. He is currently working on a Master’s in Journalism from the University of Alabama. He grew up in Birmingham, perfecting the knuckleball in the backyard. He can be found streaming Colorado Rockies games and avoiding any association with the Atlanta Braves.