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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Jose Berrios’ Curveball – If not for Khris Davis, it would easy to say Berrios’ curveball fell on black days against Oakland in a 6-2 loss. But, ohhh, did he ever make the A’s slugger look silly on the only three whiffs he induced with the pitch Sunday.
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Diego Castillo’s Sinker – The Rays reliever pitched a clean seventh inning against Boston and flashed his molten sinker to open up this at-bat vs. Steve Pearce. Between Castillo, Chaz Roe, Jose Alvarado, Ryne Stanek and Sergio Romo, the Rays bullpen has been eminently GIFable this year.
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Joe Biagini’s Curveball – Odubel Herrera and his tipsy helmet tend to steal the show on a whiff, but Biagini’s hook glued it in place here. The little nod of respect the Phillies outfielder gave this rainbow after it fell from the skies only confirmed its nastiness.
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Kyle Hendricks‘ Changeup – Hendricks and Reds first baseman Tucker Barnhart combined for a picturesque whiff on this off-speed pitch as the Cubs starter attempted to set up his fastball by pulling back on the effective velocity low-and-away.
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Mike Leake’s Curveball – Soooo…Spike Leake? Sounds like no one ever told him you can’t give yourself your own nickname—which I suspect is the dirty little secret underlying a lot of the Players’ Weekend monikers (*cough* D. Mountain *cough*). Labels aside, Leake came with the filth against Arizona’s Jon Jay on this fifth-inning hook.
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Jorge Lopez’s Two-Seamer – Down-and-in isn’t exactly the best place to pound with your fastball to try to put away Edwin Encarnacion. But if you’re going to do it, you’d better come with the same sort of cartoonish movement the Royals 25-year-old did here.
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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