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!
Zach Pop’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/windingwaryhusky
Zach, crackle, pop. This pitch absolutely exploded off of the plate after starting right in the middle of the zone, and Jonathan Villar stood no chance at extending this at-bat once he committed to swinging. Disgusting.
Nick Wittgren’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/glisteningfaintiraniangroundjay
Cleveland has some really nasty pitchers in their bullpen and Nick Wittgren sometimes slides under the radar. I try to make a point of watching him whenever he does pitch and this time he certainly delivered. He had a 60% CSW on his slider and changeup combined, both with nasty movement as he mowed down the Blue Jays. Check out an overlay of the two pitches below.
https://gfycat.com/opulentnextdragon
César Valdez’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/wellofffalseherald
César Valdez may no longer be getting reps as the closer in Baltimore, but that doesn’t mean his stuff isn’t still nasty. Just ask Anthony Rizzo, who fell for this nasty changeup just under the zone.
Jeurys Familia’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/ignorantdescriptiveaustralianfreshwatercrocodile
Another day, another nasty sinker from Jeurys Familia. At this point, he’s become must-see TV for those of us in the nasty pitch game. That sinker is on another planet right now.
Jameson Taillon’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/eminentidolizedanemoneshrimp
Jameson Taillon has been pitching fantastic of late, thanks in large part to his curveball. This one to get Maikel Franco dropped off the table like a plate full of spaghetti. Why a plate full of spaghetti? Idk, do you think you can do my job better than me? Get outta here.
Matt Harvey’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/wholewindyhoiho
One thing I love about doing Nastiest Pitches is seeing all of the different variations of the same pitch have success on any given night. This is the third sinker I’ve included in this article and it’s wildly different from the first two. Zach Pop’s gets a ton of arm-side movement, Familia’s “Demon Sinker” falls from this planet right into the first level of Hell, while this sinker from Harvey is simply a well-executed back door pitch with great ride and an awesome reaction. All three are nasty for different reasons and I love it.
Luis Castillo’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/darkgreatgander
One of my favorite pitches in baseball, Luis Castillo’s nasty changeup is hidden a bit by a poor camera angle in Cincinnati but it still gets enough drop that the naked eye can say “oh that’s nasssssty.” If this game were played in Minnesota (who has one of the best camera angles in the league) this might have been one of the nastiest pitches of the day.
Jake Diekman’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/tatteredseriousbuzzard
This is another pitch that got robbed by a poor camera angle. I would have loved to see just how much left-to-right movement this pitch got, but alas we have to settle for a ton of vertical drop and a check-swing where Manny Machado just throws in the towel (and I don’t really blame him).
Zac Gallen’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/miserlyclassiciberianmole
Cutters are such an interesting pitch. Some pitchers throw them with very little movement. Some throw them with a lot of horizontal movement. And then some throw them like a power slider that simply drops off the table. From the grip, this one looks more like a slider to me but it was classified as a cutter by Savant so that’s what we’re going with. I’m not going to argue with them, and nobody can argue with how nasty this pitch is.
Frankie Montas‘ Splitter
https://gfycat.com/unawarelastcaudata
Finally, we get to Frankie Montas‘ filthy splitter, which is truly one of the best pitches in baseball. Again, I wish this were in a different ballpark because the camera angle truly doesn’t do this pitch justice. Once again, Manny Machado stood no chance at a nasty pitch off the plate.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)