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. 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.
Yu Darvish’s Curveball – Watching Darvish use every pitch in his arsenal is like watching someone play a baseball video game with all the cheat codes. His velocity can vary from fastballs in the high 90’s all the way down to Slow Curveballs like this 63 mph arc that makes George Springer look foolish. (Thanks to Redditor rhcpflea8 for the tip!)
Marcus Stroman’s Fastball – Stroman has seen better days during his time in the Jays rotation, though he can still generate a ton of horizontal movement with his Sinker. Check out this pitch that starts at Pedro Alvarez’s legs before riding away to barely nip the inside corner. A perfect two-strike pitch.
R.A. Dickey’s Knuckleball – Not to be out beat by the only other knuckleballer in the league, Dickey elected to display his talents on Wright’s home turf, and gave us this unreal pitch to Blake Swihart, whose bat said “that’s it, I’m out of here” after a big whiff. (Thanks to @michaeldryden and about ten Redditors for the tip!)
Jake Arrieta’s Fastball – There are always a plethora of pitches to choose from whenever Arrieta pitches, and his Fastball movement has been spectacular in his last few starts. It’s hard not to love this 94 mph heater’s late movement across the plate to avoid Chris Herrmann’s bat.
Aaron Sanchez’s Curveball – Sanchez set a new career high with 12 K’s in Tuesday’s game. This perfectly placed Curveball froze Jarrod Saltalamacchia to end Sanchez’s outing on a high note. (Thanks to Redditor iamlowsound for the tip!)
James Paxton’s Fastball – The Mariners had two pitchers throwing triple-digit heaters on Monday against Cleveland. Lefty Paxton racked up 10 strikeouts in the start, thanks in part to some well-placed stuff, like this 100 mph Fastball to Mike Napoli. (Thanks to Redditor kevread for the tip!)
Noe Ramirez’s Curveball – Ramirez will most likely not have many other appearances on this list, but he had a great moment getting Darwin Barney to bail on this 0-0 Curveball that fell in for a strike. (Thanks to Redditor GuadalupeChavezMVP 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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