Every week we review the nastiest pitches from the previous week in glorious HD GIFs. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite pitch and and check back this weekend to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the First Half Contest. Did we miss your favorite pitch? Send us a tweet next time @ThePitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
Chris Sale’s Fastball –The Sale vs. Tanaka matchup last night was a great contrast in styles. Sale used his overpowering stuff to K 11 hitters, but was the tough luck loser. This Fastball to Jacoby Ellsbury is one of those unhittable pitches. Ellsbury could either take it and hope for a ball, or maybe try and foul it off, but there’s no good outcome for 99 MPH on the corner. (Thanks to Redditor Karma_Chamillionaire for the tip!)
Aroldis Chapman’s Changeup – We’ve seen Chapman make fools of batters with his heater and Slider, but now he’s starting get a feel for his Changeup, which is totally unnecessary but is incredible fun to watch. Check out Aroldis whiffing Josh Harrison with the pitch for the second out of the ninth inning as it fades down-and-away in a hurry.
Corey Kluber’s Fastball – We had to double up on Kluber when we saw the movement he got on his heater at 93mph in the ninth inning of his complete game shutout on Friday night. The ball starts off the plate inside and rides all the way to the outside corner. Ridiculous.
Clayton Kershaw’s Curveball –The dominance of Clayton Kershaw is something all baseball fans we’ll tell the next generation about with wonder and amazement. His consistency of superlative pitching is something to behold. Here he uses a parabola-like Curveball to strike out Drew Stubbs in another sterling outing.
Luis Severino’s Slider – If you’re somehow not aware, Severino is on a tear right now, fanning 27 batters in his last three starts combined. He was dominant against the Red Sox last night and his Slider is carrying him along the way. Check out the drop and beautiful bend on this gorgeous slide piece to seal the strikeout against Hanley Ramirez in the seventh. (Thanks to Redditor jimmcdermont for the tip!)
Joe Kelly’s Fastball – Kelly has switched roles this year, acting as one of the firemen in the Sox bullpen. The change has been very effective thus far, allowing him to ramp up his velocity for shorter stints in games. He dialed it up in a big way with this heater to Aaron Judge, blowing the ball past the slugger at a blistering 101.4mph.
Chris Archer’s Slider – It’s always difficult to pitch through the rain and Archer did the best he could given the circumstances last night. His famous slide piece still had its moments, here getting Welington Castillo to whiff on a 90mph Slider down in the zone.
Dellin Betances‘ Curveball – We haven’t featured Betances a ton thus far though we easily could have. He gave us a pitch yesterday that we just can’t refuse, fanning Marco Hernández with a devastating breaker that has the bottom drop out of it at seemingly the last moment. Unfair. (Thanks to @BunnChata for the tip!)
GIF Of The Week
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the First Half Contest.
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