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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Spencer Strider’s Four-Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/carefreeslimycaecilian
There was no other place to start with this article – the magic of Spencer Strider. 16 strikeouts, eight shutout innings, and a whole lot of heart. Atlanta’s new young hotshot was both enigmatic and dominant in this masterclass, mixing his devastating heater with his mesmerizing slider. He started as he meant to go on, with this 99 mph perfectly-located four-seam fastball to Ryan McMahon, his first victim of the day.
Shane Bieber’s Knuckle-Curveball
https://gfycat.com/glisteningimprobableatlasmoth
Cleveland Guardians ace Shane Bieber struck out 11 across seven fine innings but his teammates gave him nothing in terms of run support. This vicious 83 mph knuckle-curve to strike out Terrin Vavra shows us just how filthy his trademark curve is. Nasty!
Félix Bautista’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/elasticshinykronosaurus
I can’t get enough of Orioles closer Félix Bautista, who has taken the saves market by storm in the second half of the season. His rapid heater and effective secondary pitches are a perfect mix for the ninth inning. Here he nails an 88 mph split-finger fastball to dispose of Josh Naylor.
Merrill Kelly’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/astonishingflickeringkudu
The Diamondbacks are a weird fish, with a couple of big predators that have been outstanding diamonds amongst a lot of rough. One of those is starter Merrill Kelly, whose pitch mix and command have been consistently brilliant. This ripping 89 mph changeup to strike out Willy Adames is just perfect.
Logan Gilbert’s Four-Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/rigidsparseindianskimmer
Don’t go chasing…Logan Gilbert’s 97 mph four-seam fastball’s rising up and out of the strike zone. Oooh, nasty! Poor Victor Reyes was the tempted Tiger.
Ken Waldichuk’s Four-Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/revolvingsecondaryaustraliancurlew
A major league baseball debut for Oakland Athletics‘ young starter Ken Waldichuk brought about plenty of promise. The recently acquired Waldichuk, an asset from the Yankees trade for Frankie Montas, struck out six and showed good velocity on his four-seamer. This perfectly located 96 mph heater freezed Luke Voit. An interesting arm to watch.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)