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 @ThePitcherList and we'll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
Stephen Strasburg's Curveball - Stras is now up to 26 scoreless innings since his return from the DL, and NL playoff teams should be very worried about facing a Scherzer-Strasburg 1-2 punch in the playoffs. Strasburg has many pitches to choose from to finish hitters, and last night it was his Curveball, which reminded me of the late Jose Fernandez's breaker. J.T. Realmuto flinched, and then resigned himself to the fact he'd been fooled very badly.
People talk about “knee-buckling” breaking balls all the time but that Olson curve is quite literally a knee-buckler… ouch
Went through the whole thing thinking that Strasburg curve was easily my vote, and then holy mother of god, that Ottavino cutter/slider/lethal-weapon.
I’m still going with the Strasburg curve, but that Ottavino pitch is ridiculous. I have a hard time voting for the sliders and cutters because the curves and fastballs with movement are aesthetically a lot more pleasing. The Robertson curveball gets #3 for me, in part due to Machado’s swing.