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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Joe Musgrove‘s Slider
Joc Pederson is in the middle of an excellent year with 17 home runs in just under 244 PA. And he had hit .500 off Musgrove in 12 at-bats against him too. But he didn’t have a prayer last night on this devastating slider from Musgrove that just fell straight off a cliff.
Spencer Strider‘s Slider
It was a career night for the young gun as he piled up 12 strikeouts. Paul Goldschmidt was the final victim as he waved on the slider, which returned a cool 50% CSW, for the second out of the sixth.
Gerrit Cole‘s Fastball
A pair of home runs from Rafael Devers spoiled what was otherwise a perfectly satisfactory outing from Cole. He had the fastball working as it returned a fantastic 43% CSW on 51 thrown.
Justin Verlander‘s Curveball
One of the most impressive stories of the year, for me at least, has been Verlander; he really hasn’t missed a beat. Yesterday he picked up his American League-leading 11th win. Here he finishes off the fourth inning with a beautiful curveball on the outside corner to sit down Royals’ leadoff man Whit Merrifield.
Wandy Peralta‘s Changeup
Peralta has been an unsung hero for the Yankee pen with a 1.99 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. Last night, he was tasked with guarding a 6-5 lead after Cole left and he got the job done once again. His changeup has been his go-to pitch; he’s thrown it 46.9% of the time and it’s returned a 41.7% whiff rate.
Dylan Cease‘s Slider
This isn’t going to help Jeimer Candelario in his quest to reach the Mendoza line. Cease’s slider was up to its usual shenanigans last night as it returned a ridiculous 11 whiffs on 24 swings. Still, the White Sox couldn’t muster any run support as they fell 2-1 to their division rivals and are now three games under .500.
José Alvarado‘s Cutter
Guarding a two-run lead in the seventh, Alvarado fell behind 3-1 on Josh Bell, who is fifth in the NL with a .310 batting average. But the former Ray came back to win the battle with a filthy cutter in off Bell’s shoetops.
Spencer Strider‘s Fastball
We’ll end with another from Atlanta’s mustachioed gunslinger. Edmundo Sosa had no chance in his first at-bat as he went down on three straight heaters. To be fair, his teammates didn’t do much better as Strider piled up seven strikeouts in his first walk through the order. Safe to say the Cardinals did not enjoy their trip on the Strider express as it returned a 38% CSW on 64 thrown.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)