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!
Garrett Richards‘ Curveball
https://gfycat.com/cavernoussprybluebottle
Garrett Richards has had a turbulent start to his Red Sox tenure but bounced back in a big way on Tuesday. Richards tossed seven innings of one run ball, amassing ten strikeouts on the night. He struck out slugger Pete Alonso in the fourth with this big 12-6 breaking ball that froze the Met hitter. (h/t to PL+ member nvita)
Miguel Castro’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/decimalflakybuckeyebutterfly
Miguel Castro was handed the ball in the ninth inning trying to keep the Mets within striking distance. He was successful in that endeavor as he threw a scoreless inning, picking up two K’s. The final out came off of a great changeup to put away Xander Bogaerts. (h/t to PL+ member nvita)
Ian Anderson’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/reflectingaptcollardlizard
After getting into a 15-run slugfest on Monday, Atlanta shut out the Cubs Tuesday behind a strong start from Ian Anderson. The sophomore pitcher threw seven innings allowing only a single hit. One of his eight strikeouts came at the expense of David Bote as he chased a beautiful curveball below the zone.
Corey Kluber’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/flakybeneficialgnat
Corey Kluber recorded his longest outing of the year on Tuesday, picking up his first win in the process. We may never see vintage Kluber again, but he still showed that he possesses some electric stuff with this sweeping breaking ball to fan Trey Mancini. (h/t to PL+ member Mike Perugini)
Jonathan Loaisiga’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/flashyadorableasianelephant
Doubling up on Yankees, Jonathan Loaisiga had another strong relief effort as he preserved the New York lead for an inning and a third. He hit 100 on the night, but it was this 90 mph changeup that took Maikel Franco to a knee that made the cut for Nastiest Pitches.
Cole Sulser’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/greedyrevolvingkillifish
A third pitcher from this game made the list, this time an Oriole. Cole Sulser has been featured a few times this year in Nastiest Pitches and for good reason. The right hander has yet to give up a hit on his changeup and carries a whiff rate of 42% on the pitch. Aaron Hicks was Sulser’s victim this time, as Hicks swung way over the top of the off-speed offering.
Josh Hader’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/klutzypeskybigmouthbass
Josh Hader is a two-pitch pitcher, but both pitches are elite as he features an upper 90s fastball on top of a wipeout slider. Hader’s final pitch of the game, a slider, got Chad Wallach to swing way over the top of the breaking ball. He tried to hold up, but it was too late. (h/t to PL+ member Ben Bingham)
Walker Buehler’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/glaringrealfrigatebird
The Dodgers have been in a bit of a rut lately, losing six of their last eight coming into Tuesday evening. They fell short of a victory once again behind young starter Walker Buehler. Buehler was solid for his first six frames before running into trouble in the seventh and surrendering the lead. He struck out ten over his six and a third innings including a flailing Alex Blandino to end the fourth and get out of a jam. (h/t to PL+ member Alex Tran)
Jeff Hoffman’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/shadyklutzycottontail
Opposing Buehler on the hill was veteran righty Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman wasn’t particularly sharp, as he walked five in four innings but did show off this nasty back foot breaking ball to put away Gavin Lux.
Marco Gonzales‘ Curveball
https://gfycat.com/measlycomplicatedcygnet
Marco Gonzales worked around some hard contact to keep the Astros in check on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the M’s offense couldn’t muster a single run as they were handed a 2-0 shutout loss. To end the second, Gonzales worked back from down 3-0 to strikeout Carlos Correa on a nice back foot curveball.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)