During spring training, the We Love Baseball crew is warming up for the regular season with nastiest pitches updates three times a week. The camera angles for some of the spring training broadcasts don’t help present the true nastiness of the pitches chosen. We are doing the best we can to accentuate the nastiness with the available resources.
We want to bring you the highest caliber of nastiness possible, so if you see a nasty pitch, please tell us about it. You can tweet @PitcherList to let us know, and we’ll give you a shout-out here in the article if your tip makes the cut.
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Marcus Stroman’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/deepreliableafricanjacana
Marcus Stroman has been one of the most exciting pitchers so far in Spring Training. Thursday was no different as he went five innings, allowing only one run on two hits and striking out six National hitters. Among those strikeouts was this splitter to Victor Robles, causing an awkward swing attempt and sending him back to the dugout.
Andrew Heaney’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/wateryacrobaticgoa
Just as impressive on Thursday was Andrew Heaney, who struck out eight in his five innings of work in his start against the Brewers. Here we see the nastiest of those strikeouts on a breaking ball down to Orlando Arcia, causing the wave and the miss before trying to beat out the cacher’s throw to first.
Jake Arrieta’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/neatshockedkitfox
Jake Arrieta is trying to rebound his career in his second stint with the Cubs, where he is a former Cy Young Award winner. Here we see a brief flash of this former Cy Young-winning stuff on the curveball to Amed Rosario, another face on the move this offseason, which he was unable to hold up on.
Zach Plesac’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/harmoniousdeterminedindianabat
Zach Plesac is one of the more polarizing pitching options in fantasy this season, with strong opinions being held on both sides of the argument. His supporters will be proud to see his four strong innings on Thursday, which included this running fastball right past the swing of Jake Marisnick.
Dillon Maples‘ Slider
https://gfycat.com/actualbravecowbird
Dillon Maples struck out the side in his inning of work on Thursday against Cleveland. Included in those strikeouts was this slider, resembling last week’s strikeout by Darren O’Day, getting Bobby Bradley to swing through a pitch that ended up hitting him on the leg.
Pablo Lopez’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/opulentdeterminedamphiuma
Pablo Lopez looks to improve upon a breakout 2020 season last year, as one of the members of the exciting young rotation in Miami. On Thursday he showed off some of this exciting stuff with this changeup, which Paul Goldschmidt had no chance of putting in play.
Codi Heuer‘ Slider
https://gfycat.com/violetnarrowaustrianpinscher
One of the exciting young arms in the White Sox bullpen is Codi Heuer, who picked up a two-inning save on Thursday, striking out three on the way. He displayed flashes of his exciting stuff on those strikeouts, including this pitch that forced a wave and miss from Ryan McBroom.