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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Kevin Gausman’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/clutteredidolizedacouchi
Kevin Gausman had a rough outing on Thursday, only lasting five innings in the loss to the Padres. However, Gausman did strike out seven batters, along with a 30% CSW. As usual, Gausman’s splitter was his best pitch, with a 36% CSW of its own. The most impressive of these was this splitter that dropped an absurd amount to the ankles of Manny Machado and sending him down on strikes.
Connor Overton’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/wideoddballgermanshorthairedpointer
Connor Overton had an impressive first career start with three shutout innings against the Reds. In these three innings, he struck out three Reds and found himself on the nastiest pitches article. He makes it with this changeup dropping under the hands of Nick Castellanos, causing him to go down swinging on an awkward, off-balance swing.
Alex Cobb’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/livelynervousgarpike
Alex Cobb pitched a very solid five shutout innings in the win over the White Sox. In those five innings, he struck out five batters, including Luis Robert, on this splitter dropping down and inside and sending him down swinging to end the inning.
Jordan Montgomery’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/deadfreshflycatcher
Jordan Montgomery set a career-high with 12 strikeouts in 5.2 strong innings against the Orioles, posting a 34% CSW. He worked his offspeed pitches into the mix very effectively to pick up most of these strikeouts. Here we see a great example of that, with this curveball dropping down and out of the zone as Ryan McKenna chases to go down swinging.
Cole Sulser’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/dizzydistinctirishsetter
Cole Sulser picked up the win for the Orioles pitching two scoreless innings to allow the Orioles to come back and tie and then walk off the Yankees in the 10th. In those two innings, he struck out two, including a very off-balanced swing from Giancarlo Stanton on this changeup at the knees.
Kyle Hendricks‘ Changeup
https://gfycat.com/illiterateagedkronosaurus
Kyle Hendricks had a very bad start on Thursday with only one strikeout in 3.2 innings in the blowout loss to the Phillies. However, this one strikeout was nasty enough to make this list as he drops a changeup way out of the zone to send Odúbel Herrera down swinging and start his outing off right.
Liam Hendriks‘ Slider
https://gfycat.com/dentalmarvelouscivet
Liam Hendriks was brought on in the eighth inning to get some work as the White Sox prepare for their inevitable postseason birth. Even in a nonsave situation, Hendriks was his usual self, sending the Angels down 1-2-3 and striking out the side. Among these strikeouts was his 100th of the season, as well as this one, a nasty slider going out of the zone that sends Jack Mayfield down swinging.
Wandy Peralta’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/thiscaringbug
Wandy Peralta had to make a big pitch as he worked himself into a bases-loaded, no one out jam in extras against Baltimore. Here we see him make that pitch with a nasty sinker fading into the left-handed batter’s box, which Ryan Mountcastle reaches for and is unable to make contact with, going down swinging. As a Yankee fan, we do not need to talk about what came after that at-bat.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)