Every morning, the We Love Baseball crew reviews the nastiest pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious high-definition GIFs. We want to bring you the highest caliber of nastiness possible, so if you see a nasty pitch, please tell us about it. You can tweet @PitcherList to let us know and we’ll give you a shout-out here in the article if your tip makes the cut.
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Devin Williams‘ Changeup
https://gfycat.com/ablecoldicelandichorse
Devin Williams’ changeup may be one of the nastiest pitches in all of baseball. He throws the pitch 53% of the time, and with fantastic results. Opponents have a wOBA of .062 (xwOBA .097) against the pitch and are whiffing at a 61% clip. This changeup to Joey Votto exemplifies why he has so much success with the pitch.
Sonny Gray’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/finisheddistorteddrever
Sonny Gray was sharp in his return from his brief IL stint. Gray struck out eight and allowed only two hits in his five innings of work. Gray showed off a well-placed curveball to Jacob Nottingham to strike out his final hitter of the night.
Blake Snell’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/athleticdirectelephant
Blake Snell racked up the strikeouts as he led the probable AL East champion Rays against the Mets on Tuesday night. Snell mixed his pitches well all night and got Amed Rosario to swing over the top of this curveball. (h/t to PL+ member nvita)
Austin Voth’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/wickedportlyicelandicsheepdog
Austin Voth tossed a complete game in the first part of Tuesday’s doubleheader. While Voth has had his struggles this season, he looked strong against the Phillies recording his seven strikeouts on three different pitches. His lone strikeout by cutter came against Mickey Moniack as Voth placed it beautifully on Moniack’s back foot.
Gerrit Cole’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/unsightlyremarkableantarcticfurseal
Gerrit Cole and the Yankees have played great baseball lately; recovering from their mid-season swoon. Cole went seven strong in this one showing off his upper 90s fastball as well as a sharp slider. That slider was on display here to Bo Bichette as he got the sophomore shortstop to whiff on a slider down and out of the zone.
Adbert Alzolay’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/madhandmadealaskajingle
Adbert Alzolay relieved Jose Quintana in the third inning Tuesday, and went on to strike out seven over his four innings of work. Alzolay displayed a sinker with a ton of movement and paired it with a vicious curveball. This one to Bryan Reynolds breaks hard toward Reynolds’ back foot giving Reynolds no chance of making contact.
Framber Valdez’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/anguishedunkemptarcticfox
Framber Valdez gave up some hard contact on Tuesday, but was able to avoid any major trouble as he completed seven innings of one run ball. Valdez had eight strikeouts on the night; six of them coming on his curveball. He was able to elicit a number of swings on breaking balls in the dirt, but also showed he could keep it in the zone as he froze Phillip Ervin here to end the seventh.