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 @PitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
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Aaron Nola’s Curveball – Nola brought his whiffle ball curve to his showdown against Noah Syndergaard and the Mets and didn’t disappoint. His hook induced 13 whiffs out of 35 thrown, including this bit of filth to Michael Conforto. The Phillies ace picked up 21 swinging strikes overall and an impressive 40 CSW.
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Max Scherzer’s Changeup – The Nats ace yoinked Magneuris Sierra on this fifth-inning change on his way to seven strikeouts in six innings and 12 total whiffs.
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Tayron Guerrero’s Fastball – Guerrero took some damage in his one inning against the Nats, giving up a run on three hits. Still, he showed just how much gas he can siphon off with this 102 mph fastball to Ryan Zimmerman.
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Jordan Hicks‘ Sinker – It’s not often that Hicks appears alongside someone who threw a faster pitch, but though his tailing 100 mph sinker to Mike Moustakas fell short of Guerrero’s effort in velocity, it still carried a heavy dose of filth. Unfortunately for the Cards, Hicks struggled as well, giving up two runs and two walks in his lone inning vs. the Brewers.
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Jake Junis’ Slider – Junis turned the tables on Matt Davidson—no stranger to throwing nastiness himself—with his trademark out pitch on his way to making the DH one of his five strikeout victims on the night.
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Noah Syndergaard’s Slider – Though he couldn’t top Nola in their clash, Thor exacted a small measure of revenge with his final pitch of the night—a bending 98 mph sinker on the outside part of the plate that left the Phillies starter strolling away in resignation.
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David Robertson’s Curveball – The erstwhile closer may not have the most glamorous bullpen role these days, but he still totes a deadly hook, which showed its fangs here against Toronto’s Curtis Granderson.
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Blake Treinen’s Sinker – The best part about this sequence is Alex Bregman’s shrug of surprise as yet another Treinen fastball darts inward to catch the outside part of the plate. The A’s closer struck out the side and picked up the win in Oakland’s 4-3 comeback.
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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It was one hell of a pitch, but that Jordan Hicks’ pitch is not a sinker. It rose up, and obviously a sinker sinks.
Fair enough; it doesn’t have any sink, but Baseball Savant’s gamefeed classified all of his fastballs as sinkers yesterday: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?game_pk=531244&type=home_pitchers&chart_view=pitch&chart_type=sbp&inning=&count=&batter_hand=&pitcher_hand=&filter= I’m pretty sure it’s not mislabled, either, because Hicks’ sinker has more tail than anything