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 and check back this weekend to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the First Half. 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 Noah Syndergaard’s Fastball for winning GIF of the Week! Spotting 100 MPH on the black to Bryce Harper barely edged out Rich Hill’s fantastic Curveball.
Felix Hernandez’s Changeup – Felix looked like a King against the Reds, shutting them out across six innings of work. His Changeup looked good, especially this offering to Eugenio Suarez that never stopped diving off the plate inside.
Jose Fernandez’s Curveball – We are at the mercy of camera angles when creating these GIFs, and it’s fun when we get the chance to see a pitch’s break from a different angle. Here we got a great look at JoFer’s legendary Curveball as it darted away from Joe Ross‘ bat. (Thanks to Redditor knuqqler for the tip!)
Aaron Nola’s Fastball – Nola has a boatload of movement on his Fastballs due to his low arm slot, and used every bit to will this pitch back to the inside corner. Tough luck, Ender Inciarte.
Matt Shoemaker’s Splitter – It was Shoemaker at his best against the O’s on Saturday with his Splitter falling off the table nearly every pitch. Many could have been featured today but this beauty to Mark Trumbo was ultimately our favorite. (Thanks to Redditor SouthernDerpfornia for the tip!)
Jerad Eickhoff’s Curveball – I found myself not wanting to add yet another Eickhoff deuce, yet the depth of this huge Curveball to Freddie Freeman was too much for me ignore. It’s hard not to love the long pause from Freeman regretting the last 15 seconds of his life.
Carlos Rodon’s Slider – When it comes to Rodon’s repertoire, his Slider is king. He exhibited its pure filth as he threw this true back-foot slide piece to Lorenzo Cain that had the Royals outfielder falling to his knee.
Hisashi Iwakuma’s Fastball – While Iwakuma is often featured for his fantastic Splitter, this inside Fastball to freeze Jay Bruce easily earned a spot on today’s Roundup. The ride back to the plate is just too nasty.
Alfredo Simon’s Eephus – Simon may be in the bottom tier of starts across the majors, but watching him throw a 54 MPH Eephus for a strike is enough to make any resentful fan smile.
GIF Of The Weekend
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the First Half contest.
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