Joe Smith’s Fastball + The Nastiest Pitching GIFs From Wednesday’s Games

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 First 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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Joe Smith’s Fastball – Joe Smith has been having a rough season out of the Houston bullpen but this fastball was a beauty and easily the best pitch of his 2 out appearance.  Sidearm action, back-door, two-seamer with a ton of movement?  Stephen Piscotty was locked up on that one for good reason.

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Erik Goeddel’s Changeup – Good arm side run and late drop made this pitch very effective against Lourdes Gurriel Jr. who whiffed on three in a row before going down with a K.

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Aroldis Chapman’s Fastball – Pure paint on the outside at 102 MPH?  Forget about it.  4 seam fastballs don’t get much more lethal than this Chapman knockout blow.

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Chris Stratton’s Curveball – Nose to toes on this big loopy Stratton curve.  He ended up with the loss but set down 7 Phillies in the process.

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Bartolo Colon’s Fastball – Big Sexy knows how to throw a backdoor two-seamer.  Just enough movement and perfect placement in the upper outside corner sent James McCann back to the dugout.

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Jose Leclerc’s Slider – Niko Goodrum couldn’t hold up his swing on this nasty slider that nearly hit his back foot.  Great movement down and in was perfect on that 2-2 count.

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Carlos Carrasco’s Fastball – Carrasco struck out 14 and had a 33% whiff rate on his curveball but this fastball was just not fair.  This 2 seam wonder was heading for the inside corner before some late arm side movement.

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Julio Teheran’s Curveball – Carlos Gomez couldn’t have been more tangled up on this brutal 68 MPH curveball.  Nice movement on both planes and right after an 88 MPH fastball.

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Masahiro Tanaka’s Splitter – Tanaka’s bottom dropping slider is tough to hit as Andrew Benintendi found out the hard way.  There is a reason why Tanaka threw his splitter more than any other pitch.

 

GIF Of The Night

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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