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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Blake Treinen’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/canineblindcoelacanth
Blake Treinen’s velocity is down from his previous career peak with the Angels, but the movement on his pitches is still dominant. The depth on Treinen’s pitches is noteworthy to the naked eye and this slider to finish Kolten Wong is just unfair.
Luis Castillo’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/goodnaturedmilkydassie
I would have loved to see the Reds make the Wildcard to see if Luis Castillo would look against the Dodgers lineup in an elimination game after his typical dominance in the second half. The camera angle on this sinker from Castillo shows the easy movement he creates to get his front door sinker back into the strike zone. This pitch was well spotted up in the zone as well.
Wil Crowe’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/flashyunsungbudgie
Wil Crowe’s flashes of dominance over the last month or so has him on my radar as a deeper fantasy sleeper moving into 2022. Crowe has a great breaking ball with Grand Canyon level depth as well as a changeup that he used as his primary weapon to finish hitters yesterday against the Reds. Crowe racked up nine strikeouts including this disappearing changeup to Joey Votto.
Huacsar Ynoa’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/brightbraveasianwaterbuffalo
Huascar Ynoa’s breakout season was interrupted by a lengthy IL stint that has muted his hype as the Braves enter the playoffs. Ynoa has the stuff to pitch near the top of the rotation and gives the Braves a chance to make some noise in the playoffs even with the injury-caused absence of potential ace Mike Soroka. Ynoa is a little volatile but he balances his inconsistency with flashes of dominance. This slider to Brandon Nimmo starts on the inner half then takes a sharp left turn to leave Nimmo swinging at air.
Casey Sadler’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/infamoushotdamselfly
I’m no Jerry Dipoto cheerleader but he deserves more than a little bit of credit for getting the Mariners to 90 wins and a real shot at a playoff berth. A lot of noise was made after the still questionable trade of Kendall Graveman, but the Mariners bullpen has kept humming with breakout seasons for Casey Sadler and Paul Sewald. Sadler used a high spin four-seamer and his nose to toes curveball to strike out two in a perfect inning.
Kenley Jansen’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/ordinaryannualhoneycreeper
I will never be able to fully trust Kenley Jansen again because his WHIP over the last few years scares me. Jansen can lose the strike zone at any moment though I will concede he has been better at keeping the blowups to a minimum this season. Jansen can still spot his cutter with the best of them when he’s in form as this dart to Tyrone Taylor exhibits.
Louis Head’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/spectacularsecretarabianwildcat
The Rays seem to have an endless supply of burly, bearded relievers with disgusting breaking balls to choose from. I’d never heard of Louis Head before yesterday and after watching him finish Giancarlo Stanton with this slider I’m honest enough to say as a Yankees fan that the Rays bullpen owns the Yankees lineup at the moment.
Jonathan Loáisiga’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/warpedlinedarieltoucan
Jonathan Loáisiga is fresh off the IL this week and back in his familiar fireman role as the Yankees fight for a Wildcard slot in the final two games of the season. Last night Loáisiga’s control was a little off but after a walk, Loáisiga was able to get Wander Franco to swing through a sinker at 100 MPH that breaks laterally onto the outside black.
Sandy Alcántara’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/composedexaltedhound
It’s fun when pitches throw so hard that their breaking balls and/or changeups are thrown as hard as other pitchers’ fastballs but still have the movement of secondary stuff. Sandy Alcántara is a great example of this phenomenon as his low-to-mid nineties changeup looks almost like a two-seamer or sinker but has the drop of an effective changeup.
Lucas Sims‘ Slider
https://gfycat.com/gaseousbluegalah
I don’t know if there’s a specific statistic to measure reliever volatility but my guess is Lucas Sims would be high up on the leaderboard. Sims has amazing movement on his pitches but his command leaves something to be desired and leaves him vulnerable to the long ball and hard contact in general. Sims’ slider has extremely tight spin to the naked eye and this one drops out of the zone diagonally to induce the sword from Michael Pérez.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)