Every morning, the We Love Baseball crew reviews the Nastiest Pitches from the previous day’s games in glorious high-definition GIFs. 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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Adam Ottavino’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/thirstyexcitablecaterpillar
Adam Ottavino’s velocity is down marginally since his return from the IL, but his pitches still get ridiculous lateral movement. The sinker moves in on righties and his big bending slider is surpassed by few pitchers.
Aaron Ashby’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/hatefulbestdassierat
The sky is the limit for Aaron Ashby. Ashby’s slider-sinker combo is reminiscent of Blake Treinen, and I don’t take comparing a pitcher to Nastiest Pitces legend Treinen lightly. Ashby is a new toy for the renowned and complete Brewers pitching staff.
Huascar Ynoa’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/thankfulgentlefrog
Huascar Ynoa struck out the side in the fifth inning as he finished each hitter with a slider. My favorite of the bunch was this one to finish off Dom Nuñez. A late sword swing shows how flummoxed Nuñez was by Ynoa’s slide piece.
Aroldis Chapman’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/definitivehandsomeamurstarfish
Aroldis Chapman’s splitter is what I imagine in my mind a screwball looks like. The slow-motion cuts on Chapman’s split show the lack of spin that is not far off a knuckle ball and allows for the tumbling action Chapman gets on the pitch.
Shohei Ohtani’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/calculatingbowedantlion
Every time Shohei Ohtani pitches he throws a splitter that is nasty enough to end up on this list so I decided to choose a slider for a change of pace. Ohtani spots this slider perfectly on the outside black and Nick Solak’s foul-off attempt fails meekly as his swing touches nothing but air.
Clay Holmes‘ Sinker
https://gfycat.com/optimalangelicgrasshopper
Clay Holmes gets easy high-nineties velocity out of his seemingly low-effort mechanics. Without the radar gun, I don’t think I would guess this pitch gets up to 99 MPH, and that’s before we talk about the vicious break Holmes gets on his sinker.
John Means‘ Curveball
https://gfycat.com/fatherlydescriptiveblackfly
John Means has had an up and down season, but I’m sure Orioles fans would love for management to lock up one of their few players that consistently is better than replacement level. Means freezes Luke Voit on this nasty curveball at the bottom of the zone. I think Voit might be madder at himself than the umpire.
Garrett Whitlock’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/tightwealthyarchaeopteryx
Garrett Whitlock got the save last night using his diverse array of pitches. Whitlock reminds me of Jonathan Loasiga because they both throw three, and maybe four, at least average pitches, and both get used for multiple innings in high leverage spots. Whitlock gets Franmil Reyes to pull the trigger that might start in the zone, but breaks down and way off at close to 90 MPH.
Corey Knebel’s Knuckle-Curve
https://gfycat.com/cloudyallhoneybee
Corey Knebel is another Dodgers reclamation project flashing big stuff as a reliever. Knebel gets dramatic, aesthetically pleasing drop on his wipeout knuckle-curve.
Rich Hill’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/filthyfreearcherfish
I almost chose an 84 MPH sinker that Hill blew by Juan Soto in Soto’s first at-bat, but I decided to go with one of Hill’s varied breaking balls. Hill sweeps this pitch across the strike zone at a nice 69 MPH. I’ll miss Dick Mountain when he’s gone. He’s one of a kind.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)