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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Felipe Vazquez’s Fastball – Vazquez ended Pittsburgh’s year with power and precision by painting the inside corner with 101 mph heat to roast Blake Trahan on his way to his 37th save.
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Collin McHugh’s Curveball – McHugh wrapped up a stellar season with a scoreless inning against the Orioles, finishing with a 1.99 ERA (2.74 FIP) over 72.1 innings. Here, he unleashed this rainbow curve on Cedric Mullins for the swinging strike.
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Hunter Strickland’s Fastball – The Dodgers’ Yasmani Grandal thought he had a bead on this 95 mph fastball, which looked to be directly in his swing path—that is, until it discovered its tail and darted outside for the whiff. That was about all that went right for Strickland, though, as he gave up three runs in a third of an inning.
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Kirby Yates‘ Splitter – The Padres closer allowed the tying run in the top of the ninth, but prior to that, he put Arizona’s Nick Ahmed on a knee with his signature whiff pitch. And the Padres still pulled it out in the 10th: Manny Margot scored the winning run from third when Francisco Mejia struck out, but the ball squirted away from the catcher and wackiness ensued.
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Trevor Bauer’s Curveball – Bauer put in some bullpen work in preparation for the postseason series against the Astros, and he had Kansas City’s Brian Goodwin fishing here with this inside curve. The 27-year-old managed just two K’s but went four scoreless frames in a 2 -1 win.
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Max Fried’s Curveball – Fried dropped the hammer on Philly’s Cesar Hernandez, as the second baseman became one of the reliever’s two seventh-inning strikeout victims. Fried struck out 44 batters in 33.2 frames on the year.
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Kevin Gausman’s Slider – Gausman generally pops his head into this space on the strength of his trademark splitter, but he dropped Scott Kingery with this outside slide piece to earn the nod Sunday. The Braves starter had six K’s in five innings in a 3-1 loss.
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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