Every morning, the We Love Baseball crew reviews the Nastiest Pitches from the previous day’s games. If you see something you think should be included here be sure to tweet @PitcherList to let us know. Or, if you’re a PL+ Member and part of our Discord, shout it out in the Nastiest Pitches channel.
Paul Skenes‘ Slider
Paul Skenes was all anyone was talking about last night. The rookie struck out eight Cardinals while letting zero touch home plate. This slider caught Masyn Winn fishing outside the strike zone.
Paul Skenes‘ Fastball
I just had to fit in another one. This was Skenes’ final punch out of the night on his 99th pitch. It’s fitting that this fastball to Nolan Gorman was 99 mph.
Marcus Stroman’s Cutter
Stroman bounced back after a poor outing against Minnesota with a five-inning start with zero runs allowed versus Kansas City. Stroman isn’t much of a strikeout-pitcher but this cutter got Drew Waters to chase. This was the 33-year-old’s lone strikeout of the night.
Albert Suárez’s Changeup
This is the first broadcast I’ve seen in a while without that white box in the strike zone. I kind of like it. Anyways, the movement on this pitch from Albert Suárez to Austin Riley is absurd. Suarez was able to hold the Braves to zero runs over his five innings on the bump.
Drew Thorpe’s Changeup
This was Drew Thorpe’s first career strikeout and a memorable one against Julio Rodriguez. Thorpe is the White Sox’s No. 3 prospect so we could see more of this coming from the youngster this season.
Cal Quantrill’s Splitter
Quantrill has been a lone bright spot for a Rockies pitching staff that has been the worst in MLB. He has now gone two starts without surrendering a run. This splitter to Willi Castro was perfectly executed.
Yusei Kikuchi’s Slider
Kikuchi continued his solid season with a five-inning, five-strikeout performance against the Brew Crew. This slider had some late-breaking movement to it and fooled Andruw Monasterio.
Tylor Megill’s Splitter
This pitch had some insane lateral movement. Megill punched out eight Marlins here over just four innings of work. This one left Nick Gordon wishing he had a longer bat.
Kyle Finnegan’s Splitter
In the bottom of the ninth with two on and two out, Kyle Finnegan gets Colt Keith to drop to one knee and force this game into extras. The Nationals went on to win the game in the tenth.
Jordan Hicks‘ Splitter
And finally, we will finish with one of my favorites from last night, this nasty splitter from Jordan Hicks. The Astros strike out at the lowest rate in the league as a whole, but Hicks was able to muster up five of them in his west coast outing.