Every morning, the We Love Baseball crew reviews the Nastiest Pitches from the previous day’s games. If you see something you think should be included here be sure to tweet @PitcherList to let us know. Or, if you’re a PL+ Member and part of our Discord, shout it out in the Nastiest Pitches channel.
Brandon Pfaadt’s Changeup
You’re going to get a lot of two things in today’s installment of NP – Brandon Pfaadt and changeups. To kick us off is, naturally, Brandon Pfaadt’s ridiculous changeup that Jonatan Clase simply couldn’t help but offer at. Pfaadt had a shaky third inning but was dominant otherwise, racking up 11 strikeouts in this one.
Lucas Erceg’s Sweeper
Just the other day, a group of us in one of my Discord servers (shoutout Bobby) were making fun of Oakland’s lack of bullpen arms outside of Mason Miller. Well, they sure made a name for themselves this weekend. First, Mitch Spence slung some wicked sweepers on Friday night, and Lucas Erceg has followed that up by showcasing an insane sweeper of his own. Suddenly, Oakland may have one of the nastiest ‘pens in the league? Huh? Count me in.
Brandon Pfaadt’s Sinker
We return to the Brandon Pfaadt well with a pretty backdoor sinker that perfectly paints the edge of the zone. Gorgeous.
Aaron Bummer’s Sweeper
I’m not too familiar with Georgia geography, but I’m pretty sure this sweeper from Aaron Bummer ended up in South Carolina. What a pitch.
Logan Gilbert’s Slider
A beautiful, tight slider from Logan Gilbert and a hilarious helicopter swing by Ketel Marte makes this one of the nastier GIFs of the night.
Paul Blackburn’s Curveball
I mentioned Oakland’s bullpen earlier, but now I have to mention Paul Blackburn, who has cooled down since starting the year on fire but still dishes out filthy curveballs like they’re nothing.
Ryan Fernandez’s Slider
One of my favorite things about doing Nastiest Pitches is finding pitchers I’ve never heard of and seeing them throw absolute filth. Ryan Fernandez is just the latest example of that. Though, apparently he pitched for my local Portland Sea Dogs as a member of the Red Sox’ farm system in 2022 and 2023 and I’ve actually probably seen him pitch in person. Mr. Fernandez, I was unfamiliar with your game sir. Now I am and I’ll be back for more. Welcome to the bigs!
Cole Sands‘ Changeup
Another man whose work I was not familiar with, this nasty changeup by Cole Sands is hidden by the awful camera angle in Anaheim, but you can tell by the ridiculous swing and reaction by Aaron Hicks that he was completely befuddled by this pitch.
Tobias Myers‘ Changeup
From one changeup with a poor camera angle to another with a great one. Tobias Myers didn’t exactly light the world on fire Sunday, giving up four earned over five innings against the Bronx Bombers, but all we needed was one filthy pitch out of him and he delivered. I give you a win, Tobias.
Brandon Pfaadt’s Sweeper
Back to the Pfaadt well one more time. He threw plenty of nasty sweepers in this game, and a few of them were considered for this spot. But my personal favorite is this one that dotted the corner down and away for the backwards K. Nasty stuff.
Photos courtesy of Icon Sportswire
Adapted by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram