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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Kevin Gausman’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/scornfulrapidgar
What is there left to say about San Francisco Giants starter Kevin Gausman’s phenomenal season so far? The split-finger changeup has been the staple for strikeouts, and he used it with great effect to dispose of Josh Bell in the fourth inning. After three straight four-seam fastballs, two high in the zone for strikes and one low for a ball, this splitter was perfectly timed and simply unhittable.
Erick Fedde’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/enlightenedelegantalligator
Giants legend Buster Posey is back to his best this season so it takes some pitch to beat him – step up Erick Fedde, who strikes him out with this 88 mph changeup with late inside movement. Fedde threw four sinkers low in the zone to Posey to draw a 2-2 count, so tricking him with a pitch that looks like a sinker all the way before disappearing low was something special.
Trevor Bauer’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/partialfancyballpython
It wasn’t a fantastic night for the enigmatic Trevor Bauer, however, this fierce 94 mph two-seamer to strike out Willie Calhoun was a thing of beauty.
James Kaprielian’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/VigorousYearlyLadybird
The Oakland Athletics really need James Kaprielian to work out as a middle-of-the-rotation starter after the rest of the pieces from the Sonny Gray trade to the Yankees have fallen flat. After multiple injuries, Kaprielian has impressed in his role as a starter so far this season. He was a mixed arsenal and a clear intelligence for setting up hitters. Kelvin Gutierrez had no idea that this wasn’t a fastball. Kelvin, it was a beautiful 83 mph changeup, perfectly thrown.
German Marquez’s Knuckle-Curve
https://gfycat.com/spotlessbrokendeermouse
Another starter who had a rocky outing was the Rockies’ German Marquez – the unheralded arm, who has to pitch half his games in the friendliest hitters park in baseball, did produce this nasty 87 mph knuckle curveball to strike out Jonathan India, which was a pure delight.
Marcus Stroman’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/soulfuldiscretecoyote
Ladies and gentlemen, Marcus Stroman’s sensational 89 mph cutter to fell Jake Cronenworth. I have no words!
Joe Musgrove’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/closefirsthandiberianbarbel
Stroman versus Joe Musgrove was as entertaining as it got today for starting pitcher duels. Stroman came away with the win but Musgrove was also mightily impressive with seven strikeouts – the best polished off by this delicious 87 mph changeup to punch out Dominic Smith.
Yusei Kikuchi’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/belovedinsignificanthoki
The velocity is not the only thing that has increased from Seattle’s Japanese MLB sophomore Yusei Kikuchi, his confidence in his arsenal has been significantly improved over the course of this season. This is no better demonstrated by his decision to throw this wonderful 91 mph to Cleveland’s best hitter, Jose Ramirez.
Dylan Cease’s Knuckle-Curve
https://gfycat.com/vainbiodegradablecondor
This is a delightful 83 mph curveball from White Sox starter Dylan Cease to strike out Isaac Paredes, but what I love is the replay angle out of the hand. Lovely stuff.
Corbin Burnes‘ Cutter
https://gfycat.com/obviousunevengalapagossealion
We couldn’t go through this article without including Brewers sensation Corbin Burnes! He served up a nasty cutter to Pirates hitter Phillip Evans to bring the count to 2-2 and then went straight back with the same pitch but just a little extra juice. This 96 mph cutter belongs in a museum.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)