Every morning we review the nastiest pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious HD GIFs. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite pitch and check back this weekend to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the Second 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.
Congrats to Felipe Rivero’s Slider for winning Nastiest Pitching GIF of the Week! Rivero had two horses in this race and his stunning slide piece took the crown.
Zack Godley’s Fastball – What’s not to love about this pitch? Godley got an absurd amount of drop on this 95mph Fastball that he made All-Star Ryan Zimmerman miss the pitch by a foot as it fell from the middle of the zone.
Yu Darvish’s Slider – Darvish earned a whopping 28 whiffs as he carved up the Rays lineup and he ended the first inning with a pitch that kept the bat on Wilson Ramos‘ shoulders. I’ve watched this a dozen times now, adoring how it makes Ramos’ knees buckle in an 0-2 count.
Lance McCullers’ Changeup – It was far from a smooth start for McCullers, but man is this Changeup ridiculous. The pitch starts in the middle of the plate before taking off inside to Trey Mancini. To see that this pitch warranted a swing despite where it ended up is mind blowing. (Thanks to @tylercstafford for the tip!)
Mike Fiers‘ Curveballs – We couldn’t decide which big hook to feature from Fiers so we went with both. After getting demoted to the bullpen, Fiers has stepped it up in a major way, looking a bit like his former self in Milwaukee, and got two strikeouts with slow Curveballs to Jonathan Schoop and Adam Jones. Love the emotion after getting out of the seventh.
Chris Sale’s Slider – You’ve seen plenty of Sale Sliders this season, but have you seen one that has gotten Mike Trout’s approval? Didn’t think so.
Mike Pelfrey’s Fastball – It’s not super flashy like others featured here today, but we had to give a nod to the excellent life on this Pelfrey Fastball with this great 1-1 pitch to Alex Gordon. Free strikes should not be overlooked. (Thanks to Redditor EnderWill for the tip!)
Rich Hill’s Curveballs – You have a tough choice here. Do you prefer the classic loopy Curveball that moves more than it should or do you enjoy the unreal bend Hill gets on the pitch when he lowers his arm angle? Both are nasty in their own ways and we couldn’t deny either a spot today.
Chris Archer’s Slider – After Darvish’s dominance the night before, Archer put on his own display with 11 strikeouts on Saturday. Our favorite was with this Slider in the seventh that had a mind of its own, disappearing from the heart of the plate to no-man’s land in a hurry.
GIF Of The Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the Second Half Contest.
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Nick I know you saw that Aroldis 102mph fastball that went up the ladder to strikeout Gamel and end the game! Surprised its not on here
That’s standard procedure! Give me spotted on the black and we’re talking.
I saw that Godley pitch on TV and was confused as to how he got so much downward movement on it. At first I thought maybe it was a slider. How does he do that with his fastball?