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.
As a bonus for PL+ members, let us know about a pitch on the PL+ Discord in the Nasty Pitches Channel, and if your suggestion is included the next day, you’ll be entered into a weekly drawing for a free T-shirt!
Miguel Castro’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/querulouspinkhen
Yikes. I don’t know how Ketel Marte recovers from this. I’ve seen nastier sliders from Miguel Castro, but this one looks 100x nastier thanks to Marte’s reaction. This pitch is going to be the talk of the town for a while, and that’s totally fine in my books.
Framber Valdez’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/exemplarysleepycockerspaniel
Framber Valdez struck out ten Red Sox on Wednesday night, even after losing his command in the first inning and walking in a run. He had the curveball working to a tune of a 43% CSW, and a few of them were Nastiest Pitches worthy, but this fastball in the first inning to Alex Verdugo passed the “oof” test big time.
Caleb Thielbar’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/grandlargebutterfly
Speaking of the “oof” test, how about a 62 MPH slow curve from Meat Raffle? This one hung up in the air like a weather balloon, popped at 100,000 feet, then dropped right back to earth on the corner of the zone. Impressive command, impressive rotation, and a whole lotta whiff from Freddy Galvis.
Adbert Alzolay’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/firsthandeverybuck
Our second sinker of the evening is in the same part of the plate as the first, however, it darts back across the zone for the called strike instead. Adbert Alzolay has been a Nastiest Pitches mainstay so far this season and he kept that up on Wednesday night, striking out seven over five innings of one-run ball. He’s figured something out this season and I’m excited to see what he becomes.
Jonathan Loaisiga’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/incompletevictoriouseyra
Jonathan Loaisiga, or “Johnny Lasagna”, has been killing it out of the pen this season. He’s gained a full tick of velocity on both his fastball and changeup, sporting an excellent 8 mph difference between the two, but it’s the curveball that’s his best pitch from and this one has Randy Arozarena flailing his arms like they’re made of spaghetti. Yeah, I know spaghetti isn’t in a lasagna. It’s lasagna adjacent. Just go with it.
Edwin Díaz’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/admirabledirtycockerspaniel
Sheesh. Triple-digit stuff with movement? I don’t care that Josh Rojas tipped it into the glove. He was lucky to tip it into the glove. That’s not to say he isn’t a talented hitter, because he is, but he was just fighting to live another day and trying to foul this Edwin Díaz fastball off. Spoiler alert: He failed. Better luck next time.
Nick Pivetta’s Knuckle Curve
https://gfycat.com/terrificlividamericancurl
As good as Framber Valdez pitched on Wednesday night, Nick Pivetta was right there with him every step of the way. He struck out nine of his own over six innings, but was saddled with the loss after experiencing his own struggles in the bottom of the first inning and then giving up a second run later on in the game. This knuckle curve dropped right out of the zone at the last moment and Alex Bregman stood no chance of making contact with this one.
Dinelson Lamet’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/testyacceptablegenet
I personally don’t ever get tired of front door sinkers, especially when they’re upper 90’s cheese that elicits a great reaction from the batter. This Dinelson Lamet sinker does exactly that, and it’s wonderful.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)