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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Freddy Peralta’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/flawlessbluehorsefly
Freddy Peralta got roughed up a bit in his last start, allowing the first five hitters to score before settling in. Tuesday’s game went much better as the righty put up zeroes for seven innings. He struck out eight on the night and made Harrison Bader look silly on this slider way out of the zone.
Logan Webb’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/piercingearnestbufeo
Logan Webb turned in his strongest start of the season on Tuesday as he led the Giants to a 4-2 victory over the Rangers. Webb reached double-digit strikeouts for the first time this year as ten Rangers fell victim to the K. Of the ten, four came off his slider, including this strikeout of Willie Calhoun in the fifth. (h/t to PL+ member pj20)
Shane Bieber’s Knuckle-Curve
https://gfycat.com/orderlymisguideddarklingbeetle
Cleveland ace Shane Bieber ran into some early trouble but was able to escape relatively unscathed as he followed up this bases-loaded strikeout of Ildemaro Vargas with a ground ball double play. He was able to sit down Vargas with a big knuckle-curve that dropped well below the zone.
Nathan Eovaldi’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/dearbrilliantjavalina
There have been a couple hiccups, but overall, Nathan Eovaldi has had a solid start to the 2021 season. He turned in another strong performance on Tuesday as the Red Sox hosted the A’s. He didn’t rack up the strikeouts, finishing with only four, but did freeze Mark Canha here with a front door cutter at 93 mph.
Matthew Boyd’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/terrificwellwornbilby
Matthew Boyd hasn’t been tallying the strikeouts this year like he has in the past, but he has been successful in preventing runs thus far. Despite the drop in K rate, Boyd’s curveball still carries a 60% whiff rate on the season, which he showed off here to record the strikeout of Hanser Alberto.
César Valdez’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/youngparchedakitainu
César Valdez was not his usual self on Tuesday as he gave up three hits and two runs to blow the save against the Mets. He did show off his signature changeup, however, and picked up his sole out by way of the strikeout against James McCann.
Shohei Ohtani’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/enlightenedgloriousasianconstablebutterfly
It wouldn’t be a Nastiest Pitches article without a Shohei Ohtani splitter. Ohtani was dominant on Tuesday, striking out ten Astros while only allowing four hits and a walk. One of his victims was Yuli Gurriel, who chased this splitter that ended well below the zone.
Lance McCullers Jr.s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/practicaldelayedjavalina
Ohtani wasn’t the only pitcher to get in on the fun in this matchup, as Lance McCullers Jr. had a great night of his own. McCullers emerged as the victor throwing eight innings of one-run ball while totaling nine strikeouts. He ended the sixth with a great changeup to put away David Fletcher.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)