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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Tyler Rogers‘ Slider
https://gfycat.com/altruisticselfreliantbullfrog
Tyler Rogers already possesses a delivery that makes his pitches difficult to follow. Combine that with pitches with an insane amount of movement, and you have an easy candidate to make it onto this list. That’s exactly what we saw on Thursday afternoon as he threw this slider that rose up and out of the zone to Rowdy Tellez, forcing this swing and miss — one of three punchouts as he kept the game tied in the 8th.
Logan Webb’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/scentedelatedbrownbear
Logan Webb was extremely sharp on Thursday as he struck out 10 Brewers, with an absurd 41% CSW through seven strong innings in the Giants’ eventual win over Milwaukee. With an outing like that, you’d expect to find something in this article from him. That’s exactly what this slider to Jackie Bradley Jr. did, moving back across the plate and down forcing an awkward swing and miss to send JBJ down on strikes.
Devin Williams‘ Changeup
https://gfycat.com/optimisticmarriedhapuku
The reigning National League Reliever of the Month, Devin Williams, had a rare bad outing on Thursday taking the loss to the Giants. No matter how bad the outing, he seems to always find a way on this list with his changeup, fading down and out of the zone as Austin Slater swings straight through it.
Aaron Nola’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/fragrantpresenthapuka
The Phillies would end up coming back to pick up the win over the Nationals on Thursday, but it was not due to Aaron Nola. Nola did strike out five, but in four innings of work along with six runs allowed on multiple home runs. One of the few highlights from his outing was this pitch dotting back over the inside corner to catch Keibert Ruiz looking.
Sandy Alcantara’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/dismalangryafricanclawedfrog
Sandy Alcantara didn’t possess his best stuff on Thursday but still powered his way into the seventh inning against the Mets. His changeup continues to lead the way as his most impressive pitch. Here we see a gorgeous example to Jonathan Villar, fading down and away to send this hot hitter down swinging.
Triston McKenzie’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/thirdactiveiberianemeraldlizard
Triston Mckenzone continued his late-season bounce back with six strong innings over the Royals with six strikeouts. Here we see a beautiful curveball dropping out of the zone late to send Hunter Dozier down swinging.
Garrett Richards‘ Changeup
https://gfycat.com/complicatedheftybarnswallow
In an important divisional matchup, Garrett Richards followed a dominant start by Eduardo Rodriguez with three shutout innings of his own with only one hit and four strikeouts. One of these strikeouts came on a gorgeous changeup inside on Yandy Diaz that forced this awkward swing and miss.
Edwin Diaz’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/misguidedinconsequentialeastsiberianlaika
Edwin Diaz wrapped up the win over the Marlins on Thursday with two strikeouts in a perfect inning of work, getting his 28th save of the season. He ended the game with his best pitch of them all — this slider down and away to Bryan De La Cruz that forced a swing and miss and wrapped up a Mets’ victory.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)
Hard to pick. A lot of electric there.