Every morning, the We Love Baseball crew reviews the Nastiest Pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious high-definition GIFs. We want to bring you the highest caliber of nastiness possible, so if you see a nasty pitch, please tell us about it. You can tweet @PitcherList to let us know, and we’ll give you a shout-out here in the article if your tip makes the cut.
As a bonus for PL+ members, let us know about a pitch on the PL+ Discord in the Nasty Pitches Channel, and if your suggestion is included the next day, you’ll be entered into a weekly drawing for a free T-shirt!
Kyle Wright’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/handmadeblandgrackle
Kyle Wright was absolutely dominant on Friday night, throwing 95 pitches and collecting a 39% CSW overall. The curveball stung anyone who dared step in the batter’s box against him, including this filth that led to a great interaction between Jesús Aguilar and Travis d’Arnaud afterward. This was one of the nastiest pitching performances we’ll see this year.
Michael King’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/sanecandiddipper
Speaking of filthy, Michael King also had something special going on Friday night which allowed him to absolutely dominate Kwan Soto and the rest of the Cleveland Guardians. I absolutely love the slo-mo angle of this pitch, where you can see exactly how much the ball moves away from Steven Kwan while he miraculously somehow found a way to foul tip this ball.
Julio Urías‘ Changeup
https://gfycat.com/cornyexcellentharborseal
Julio Urías worked his way through a tough Padres lineup and earned a win along the way. His curveball was his best pitch of the night (41% CSW), but this changeup that fooled Manny Machado was easily the nastiest. If San Diego had a better camera angle, we might be talking about this pitch as the nastiest of the day.
Evan Phillips‘ Slider
https://gfycat.com/impishtartballpython
Evan Phillips has come on my radar this season with a Treinen-esque slider that owns a whopping 38.1% CSW so far this year. It’s got both bark and bite, and it’s fooling hitters left and right.
Chris Flexen’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/afraidhorribleflee
I’m a sucker for a good changeup, especially one that moves as much as this one from Chris Flexen. He earned a 55% CSW with the changeup on Friday night, and it seemed that Kansas City couldn’t quite figure out when it was coming. I’d like to see more of this from Flexen in 2022.
Kyle Wright’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/idleinsidiousdarwinsfox
Hey, it’s that guy again. Yes, Kyle Wright was disgusting last night. There were another ten pitches I could have included here if I wasn’t obligated to watch more than one pitcher…
Gabe Speier’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/liquidunripeamericanbobtail
My favorite part of doing Nastiest Pitches is stumbling across a nasty pitch while casually hopping through a game. I’ve never heard of Gabe Speier before now – maybe you have, maybe you haven’t. Either way, this pitch immediately passed the “oof” factor, which I use to determine the nastiest pitches of the day. Thanks, Gabe. Keep up the filth.
Bailey Ober’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/skinnyknobbyduckbillplatypus
You know the old saying – spring flowers bring Bailey Ober changeups. Or something like that. This pitch gets a ton of horizontal movement that takes it from the inside part of the zone all the way to six inches out of the zone. That’s nasty.
José Alvarado’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/grandiosepartialcarpenterant
José Alvarado has one of the nastiest pitches in the league – a triple-digit sinker with a ton of late ride. However, the trash camera angle at Citizens Bank Park often hides just how filthy that pitch is. So when Alvarado pitches in Philly, we’re forced to rely on his slider if we need a nasty pitch. He sure delivered with this one against Mike Brosseau.
Justin Verlander’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/repulsiveopulentcanadagoose
We cap off this installment of Nastiest Pitches with a nasty slider from an all-time great. Verlander is back with a vengeance this year, and it doesn’t seem like he’s going away any time soon.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)