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.
Justin Verlander’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/WeightyBlissfulFlamingo
Justin Verlander was dealing on Wednesday, with Nicholas Castellanos being just one of nine strikeout victims for the future Hall of Famer over seven innings of work. The most impressive thing about this curveball is that Verlander already threw an almost identical pitch to Castellanos earlier in the at-bat that he barely checked his swing on. It takes true craftiness (or maybe just poor plate discipline) to get a guy on the same pitch twice.
Josh Hader’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/FlimsyPositiveCougar
Surprisingly, I think this might be the first time I’ve featured a Josh Hader GIF in the roundup. Here he gets Odubel Herrera hacking at a heater way upstairs, after pumping two fastballs on the outside edge right past him.
Mike Morin’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/HeftyHelpfulBuckeyebutterfly
Luis Rengifo has not had the cleanest start to his major league career, and Mike Morin continues his rude introduction. Morin might just take the accolade of the most obscure pitcher I’ve gotten the pleasure of featuring here, and what a pitch with which he makes his nasty pitch debut.
Mike Dunn’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/GenerousIndolentGuineapig
Poor Andrew Benintendi had a rough at-bat against Mike Dunn here, with this looping kill pitch from Dunn being chief among the rough swings he elicited. The 11-year MLB veteran hasn’t had an ideal start to the year but has a solid career pedigree to hopefully fall back on.
Domingo German’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/AlertGivingAyeaye
The young Yankees’ ace in the making has had a blistering start to 2019 and was particularly impressive over seven innings of one-run ball against the Orioles on Wednesday. I could have filled an entire nasty pitch article with just Domingo German curveballs, and picking just one was a tall task. Feel free to yell at me on Twitter about how I chose the wrong one.
Ryan Pressly’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/CavernousLavishAdamsstaghornedbeetle
It’s almost unfair how good the Astros are, from their historically good offense to a bullpen that’s incredible in its’ own right, arguably paced by Ryan Pressly. Pressly has yet to allow a single run on the season or even walk a batter. If he continues his stifling start, it’s safe to assume we’ll see plenty more of the 30-year-old vet.
Patrick Corbin’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/BadAlertAdeliepenguin
The Nationals’ 140 Million Dollar Man was at his finest on Wednesday, sitting down 11 Mets via punch out over eight innings of work. He now sports a 2.91 ERA on the year and is one of the few bright spots on a badly sputtering Washington Nationals squad.
Yu Darvish’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/ThinSpeedyAmericanbadger
It’s sad that owning Yu Darvish has been so agonizing that the fact that Darvish didn’t walk a batter through the first four innings got me excited. Striking out 11 over 5 1/3 innings pitched, hopefully Yu can turn the corner on a Chatwoodian start to the year and bounce back to the lights-out ace we saw in Arlington.
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.
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