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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Max Scherzer’s Curveball
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In his final start before Thursday’s blockbuster trade, Max Scherzer left Nationals’ fans with something to cheer about in the first game of a doubleheader win over the Phillies. In six strong innings, Scherzer struck out five to end his Nationals tenure on a high note. Scherzer leads off this article with one of those strikeouts, serving up a nasty curveball that broke out of the zone, causing Andrew McCutchen to wave at and miss the pitch.
Gerrit Cole’s Changeup
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Even though he struck out 10 Rays, Gerrit Cole struggled throughout the game, allowing eight runs in 5.1 innings of work. With ten strikeouts, odds are at least one of the pitches will be good enough to make it onto this article. That’s exactly what this changeup to Brandon Lowe was: a nasty pitch dropping down and out the zone to punch him out. Combine this with some of the other pitches he put out there and it makes for pure filth.
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Luis Patiño’s Slider
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Luis Patiño had arguably the most impressive start of the day on Thursday, and easily the best start of his young career, dominating the Yankees through six shutout innings with a 37% CSW and eight punch outs. With as dominant of an outing as he had, there were many options for nasty pitches. But, the most impressive pitch was this slider, which was perfectly placed on the inside corner to catch Rougned Odor looking.
Luis Castillo’s Sinker
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Luis Castillo picked up another quality start on Thursday, putting up an impressive 36% CSW on his way to another win as he continues his improvements from his struggling start to the season. The highlight to this start was his sinker, which he constantly painted across the corners of the plate, including this sinker that dotted the outside corner to catch Matt Duffy looking.
Tyler Rogers‘ Slider
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Tyler Rogers pitched a perfect inning of relief on Thursday, striking out the side to preserve the Giants’ lead over the Dodgers. The most impressive of these punch outs came with this slider, which had insane movement as it crossed back over the plate to catch Matt Beaty looking.
Freddy Peralta’s Changeup
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Freddy Peralta continued his strong start to the season with six shutout innings in the win over the Pirates. He continues to effectively mix all his pitches, including this nasty changeup to get Michael Perez swinging.
Devin Williams‘ Changeup
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Once again, Devin Williams finds his way into a Nastiest Pitches article with his Bugs Bunny changeup. This gorgeous Airbender faded down and out of the zone, catching Gregory Polanco out in front as he swings straight through it.
Michael Fulmer’s Slider
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Michael Fulmer struck out the side on Thursday to finish the win off over the Orioles. The most impressive of these strikeouts was this slider to get Domingo Leyba swinging, which completed the 6-2 victory.
Joe Musgrove’s Curveball
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What an outing on Thursday for Joe Musgrove, as he breezed through seven shutout innings, picking up 11 strikeouts and a night-high 40% CSW. With these numbers, it is no surprise to see Musgrove find his way into this article, and though there were many options to choose from, this curveball that dropped out of the zone caused Ryan McMahon to swing through it after three straight swings and misses on the same pitch.
Frankie Montas‘ Splitter
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Frankie Montas bounced back with another real dominant outing on Thursday in the win over the Angels. He picked up 10 strikeouts in seven shutout innings, along with an impressive 40% CSW. His splitter continues to impress and is a huge reason for his success. Thursday was another example of that, as he used the splitter throughout his outing for strikeouts, including this nasty split, which caused Adam Eaton to wave through it and miss completely.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)