Every morning, we review the nastiest pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious high-definition 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 First Quarter Contest. Did we miss your favorite pitch? Send us a tweet next time @PitcherList, and we’ll GIF it up and give you a shoutout here in the article.
Gerrit Cole’s Knuckle-Curve
https://gfycat.com/weakpowerfulhammerkop
It was all about number eleven last night at Minute Maid Park. The Astros put up 11 runs, and Gerrit Cole earned his 11th win of the season after an 11 strikeout performance. Cole somehow raised his K/9 to an astounding 13.50 on the year (the record for a single season is 13.47 by The Big Unit) and utterly dismantled the A’s lineup. He got a little help from his beautiful knuckle-curve that he induces a swinging strike three on, his tenth K of the game.
Kyle Crick’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/GlaringDistantJaguarundi
If you don’t appreciate this pitch at full-speed, I implore you to give a closer look at the slo-mo replay. Kyle Crick gets Paul DeJong on just three pitches, and he finishes him off with his signature put-away pitch. The slider starts off inside and is able to move about a foot off the plate to just miss DeJong’s bat, creating one of the sickest whiffs we’ve seen a while.
Mike Clevinger’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/unnaturalbonyhuman
Mike Clevinger might have given up two home runs last night, but that didn’t faze the hard throwing righty. Clevinger pounded fastballs up in the zone all night and this one right here is my favorite. Clevinger gets the pitch to rise just enough on Cavan Biggio to get the Blue Jays rookie swinging through his powerful heater.
Chaz Roe’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/LeftAcceptableLhasaapso
Chaz Roe’s slider is one of the nastiest pitches in all of baseball. The pitch has created some all-time great GIFs and we’ve been given the privilege to gawk at the insanity that is Roe’s frisbee slider. Watch here, as the pitch looks like it’s about to run in and hit J.D. Martinez before it just darts back in the zone to fool Boston’s top slugger.
Sonny Gray’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/IdealisticSpottedBorzoi
Sonny Gray has been a pleasant surprise this year, and perhaps he owes a nice amount of that credit to his curveball. The pitch was elite last night, as Gray was able to get a 40% CSW on his breaking ball, including this called strike three that froze Eric Thames at the plate.
Gerrit Cole’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/WideAcclaimedIndigowingedparrot
To celebrate Cole’s greatness on the mound we’re gonna give you two GIFs from his stellar performance last night. We showed you his lethal knuckle-curve above, but is it better than this pitch? This one from Cole is his heater, which comes in at 99 mph 70 pitches deep in the game. He perfectly paints the outer edge of the zone with this fantastic offering for a called strike three.
GIF of the Night
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below, and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the First Quarter Contest.
[polldaddy poll=10369537]
Love Kyle Crick shoulder tip after the K!!!