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!
Alek Manoah’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/organicoffbeatdolphin
Manoah ran into some trouble in the first and loaded the bases on a walk to Gavin Sheets. The next batter was Yasmani Grandal. It’s been a rough year, to say the least for the switch-hitting catcher who finds himself saddled with the league’s worst OPS among qualifiers. And after working the count full, Mr. Manoah paid him no quarter and snapped off this slider to bounce out of the inning unscathed.
Sandy Alcantara’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/braveleancats
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no! It’s Super Sandy! OK, I’ll stop. If you can believe it, Alcantara actually ran into a little bit of trouble in the first. And by trouble I mean he allowed a double to Mike Yastrzemski before almost surrendering a two-run home run to Joc Pederson. Here he dispatched the next batter, Luis González on some high heat to end the first. Not pictured: Lois Lane swooning over her man leading the league in innings pitched while also having a WHIP under 1.00. OK, now I’ll stop.
Jameson Taillon’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/artisticwarmheartedhamster
Just a wonderful performance from Taillon last night. He finished six outs short of delivering the first perfecto we’ve seen since King Felix a decade ago. A perfectly located slider here drew a weak hack from Angels’ backstop, Kurt Suzuki.
Graham Ashcraft’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/thriftycrispjabiru
The Reds rookie made his third start last night and earned his second win. He’s armed with one of the hardest cutters you’ll find averaging 97.5 MPH. This one tied up Victor Robles in a knot.
Sean Manaea’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/similarnaturalbull
A ninth-inning implosion from Taylor Rogers cost him the Padres the win last night, but Manaea had his slow ball working as the pitch returned a 44% CSW. Andrew McCutchen might own a career .402 wOBA against southpaws, but he was no match for this changeup in his first at-bat.
Diego Castillo’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/scenteduntimelyhapuka
It’s been a rough year for Castillo, but the former Tampa Bay Ray might be turning things around as he’s now put together four consecutive scoreless appearances. His two innings of relief last night helped deliver the Mariners from Camden Yards with a win in extras. Here he dispatches Ryan Mountcastle on a filthy slider for the penultimate out in the tenth.
Nestor Cortes‘ Cutter
https://gfycat.com/grandhatefulfallowdeer
Nasty Nestor continues to deal. In the day game of yesterday’s double header, his cutter did more heavy lifting as he threw it 40 times and it returned a 35% CSW. The lefty delivered a cutter impeccably located at the top of the zone to former Met Juan Lagares on the second pitch of his first at-bat.
Shohei Ohtani’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/ultimateopulenthectorsdolphin
It was a rough outing for Ohtani who drew the early game assignment opposite Cortes. The reigning MVP did, however, make a tough hitter in DJ LeMahieu look silly on this nasty splitter that fell straight off the table. Through nine starts, his splitter has returned a whiff rate of 52.3%.
Tony Gonsolin’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/terrifictalkativeelephant
Six scoreless from Gonsolin last night dropped his ERA to 1.59, third among qualifiers trailing Martín Pérez (1.42) and Nasty Nestor (1.50). He fired a nasty splitter to sit down Pete Alonso leading off the second.
Corey Kluber’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/elasticharddodobird
Kluber returned to the site of his no-no last year and had himself a reasonable outing holding the Rangers to just one run across six innings. Here he gets Mitch Garver on a curveball to end the first.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)