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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Shane Bieber’s Knuckle-Curve
https://gfycat.com/waterygleefuljay
Your MLB strikeout leader Shane Bieber had himself another strong outing against the Cardinals, who have now lost six straight. Bieber had five strikeouts on the night, with only two coming on his knuckle-curve. This one here absolutely fell off the table to take care of Nolan Arenado.
Tyler Glasnow’s Four Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/disguisedquerulousfrigatebird
Hot on Bieber’s heels for the strikeout crown is Tampa Bay ace Tyler Glasnow. He picked up eleven strikeouts of his own tonight, including this one of Kyle Schwarber on a great 99 mph fastball at the knees.
Sonny Gray’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/anchoreddismalammonite
After failing to make it out of the fifth his last time out, Sonny Gray looked to display a strong bounce back performance against the Brewers hapless lineup. Unfortunately, that performance was cut short due to injury. Prior to the injury Gray tossed three shutout innings, striking out five including Christian Yelich here.
Framber Valdez’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/distortedwellwornarmyworm
Framber Valdez had a strong 2020 and looked poised to make a breakthrough heading into 2021. The start to his season was unfortunately delayed due to a fractured finger, but he showed that 2020 promise in his first two starts of the 2021 season. That success continued Tuesday to the tune of seven one-run innings with eight K’s. He buries a nice curveball here to get Xander Bogaerts swinging.
David Peterson’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/flowerybountifulaidi
It was a rough second inning for David Peterson as the lefty allowed three runs in the frame. He gave up another the following inning and wouldn’t make it out of the third as the Mets fell to the Orioles 10-3. However, Peterson did get the better of Trey Mancini here with a nasty back foot slider. (h/t to PL + member nvita)
Carlos Rodon’s Four Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/insistentcircularelver
The pitching matchup of the night pitted Carlos Rodon against Robbie Ray. Both pitched commendably as Rodon struck out eight and allowed only a single run over his five innings of work.Here, Rodon froze Teoscar Hernandez with a four-seamer dotted low and in at 98. (h/t to PL + member Giant Slor)
Robbie Ray’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/dependentlonelydassierat
Rodon’s counterpart, Robbie Ray matched and exceeded Rodon’s strong performance. Ray completed six and a third innings striking out 13, but the success did not carry over to the Blue Jays’ bullpen as Toronto would lose this game when the White Sox scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth. Ray struck out the side in the first, all on sliders like this to Yoan Moncada.
Devin Williams‘ Changeup
https://gfycat.com/unknownwavygrizzlybear
Devin Williams hasn’t been quite as dominant in 2021 as he was in 2020. (It’s tough to replicate a 53% K rate) However, his changeup is still as nasty as ever and he proved that here, striking out the hottest hitter in the league in Nick Castellanos. The slo-mo provides a great visual of Williams’ arm action to get that insane movement on the pitch.
Pablo Lopez’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/oldenchantingkoala
Pablo Lopez struck out eight on the night, but his first may have been his best as he struck out Rockies’ leadoff man Raimel Tapia on a diving changeup. Lopez entered the night 1-3 despite an ERA of 2.82 but received enough run support to pick up his second win of the season on Tuesday.
Aaron Nola’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/jointtediousemperorshrimp
Aaron Nola didn’t look particularly sharp his last time out, but led his team to a victory, nonetheless. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Tuesday’s performance, as Nola once again labored, and the Phillies would go on to take the loss. While Nola did get hit around, he managed seven punch outs with four coming on changeups like this one here to Guillermo Heredia.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)