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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Framber Valdez’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/basicclassicgoldfinch
Much has been made of Justin Verlander’s return to dominance and rightfully so. But right behind him is the rock that is Valdez; he leads the AL with 142 IP and is now just one quality start away from tying the club record of twenty in a row set by Mike Scott during his 1986 Cy Young season. This hook from the southpaw sat down Charlie Culberson to close the second.
Edward Cabrera’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/scentedsorrowfuleland
Just a perfectly located slider from Cabrera that renders Alec Bohm helpless. The Marlins’ rookie was fantastic and recorded the win as he blanked the Phillies through five and two-thirds innings.
John Schreiber’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/dishonestdefenselessdeer
The Red Sox bullpen has been a mess, to say the least. Things are going to be even dicier now that Tanner Houck was recently sent to the IL with a back injury. Thankfully they have Schreiber who has been a stalwart this year with a 1.80 ERA and 0.80 WHIP across 45 IP. Boston needs every win they can get now and Schreiber answered the bell last night with a two-inning save against the O’s. This slider helped set up the game-ending punchout of Jorge Mateo.
Drew Smyly’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/unimportanttalkativeandeancondor
It was all Smyles at the Field of Dreams last night. The veteran southpaw had his tumbler working and piled up nine K’s in only five innings en route to a 4-2 victory over the Cubs.
Dylan Cease’s Knuckle Curve
https://gfycat.com/mindlessultimatekouprey
It’s been a dreadfully disappointing season for the White Sox as they fell to .500 last night with a loss to KC and are now four games behind the Guardians in the loss column for the AL Central. But, hey, at least they have Cease, who is now only four behind Gerrit Cole for the MLB lead in strikeouts. The righty broke off this sharp knuckle curve to M.J. Melendez before striking him out to end the fifth.
Scott Barlow’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/likablesoreamericanbulldog
After allowing a leadoff home run to Andrew Vaughn in the ninth, the KC closer set up Eloy Jiménez with a first pitch heater followed by this beautiful curveball that fell straight off the table. Barlow then got Jiménez on strikes before retiring José Abreu and Yasmani Grandal to seal a 5-3 win for the Royals.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)