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.
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Corbin Burnes‘ Changeup
https://gfycat.com/aridblondestuarinecrocodile
Another dominant outing on Friday from Corbin Burnes, boasting a 34% CSW in a no decision prior to Milwuakee’s extra inning win over the Giants. While Burnes did not strike out as many batters as he usually would, this changeup to Brandon Crawford fading down and out of the zone leads off this article with some nasty movement to send Crawford down swinging.
Lance Lynn’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/limpdistinctbarnacle
Lance Lynn pushed himself through six string innings of one run ball in a no decision against the Cubs as he struck out eight batters. The Cy Young Award candidate makes another trip onto this list with this sinker bearing down and inside forcing Frank Schwindel down swinging.
Liam Hendriks‘ Fastball
https://gfycat.com/assuredaggressiveafricanelephant
After Craig Kimbrel blew the save in the 8th inning, Liam Hendriks was called on to hold the tie game and escape the jam in the 8th inning before pitching a scoreless 9th to force extras. Hendricks did exactly that with this 99 mile per hour fastball blown right by Sergio Alcántara with not much of a chance of making contact.
Nathan Eovaldi’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/organicmisguidedkookaburra
While Nathan Eovaldi struggled to get through five innings on Friday, he found himself on the Nastiest Pitch Article with this quick pitch to freeze Teoscar Hernández with a slider across the outside corner.
Kyle Muller’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/ambitiousrigidgrackle
Kyle Muller has been a huge boost to the Atlanta rotation and pitched well enough in his 4.2 innings on Friday to keep the Braves in the game before finishing off the win late. With a 28% CSW, Muller struck out three Nationals, including the leadoff batter Victor Robles with this perfectly placed curveball, locking him up and sending him back to the dugout to open the game.
Logan Webb’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/mediumfittinglarva
Logan Webb matched up toe to toe with Corbin Burnes on Friday, and was equally as impressive with six innings of one run ball with nine strikeouts. His slider was his most impressive pitch, boasting a 38% CSW with multiple options to be placed in this article including this one moving into the opposite batter’s box and forcing Tyrone Taylor to swing right through it.
Devin Williams‘ Changeup
https://gfycat.com/idleblaringestuarinecrocodile
Surprise, surprise, Devin Williams found his way into another one of these articles with this nasty changeup to get Kris Bryant swinging in a scoreless ninth inning to keep the game tied against the Giants.
Luke Jackson’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/smartcheapiriomotecat
Luke Jackson struck out the side in his lone inning of work to hold Atlanta’s lead over the Nationals on Friday night. With multiple strikeouts to choose from, the most impressive of these was this slider crossing back over the plate forcing Gerardo Parra to wave right through it and end the inning.
Emmanuel Clase’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/carefreeoldfashionedcobra
Emmanuel Clase came on in the 9th inning to keep the bases loaded against the Tigers and pick up the save and displayed his usual nasty stuff, striking out both batters he faced. Among these strikeouts was this backfoot slider to catch Victor Reyes with a very awkward swing and wrap up this Cleveland win.
Chris Bassitt’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/flickeringhelplessconey
With a 34% CSW on Thursday, Chris Bassitt was very sharp on Friday with seven strong innings with eight strikeouts against the Rangers. Multiple curveballs could have made this list, but this nasty curveball into the right-handed batters box forced an awkward swing from Jonah Heim as he was way out in front of the pitch, one of his two strikeouts on the night.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)