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.
Paul Skenes‘ Splitter
The Pitcher List player pages only have one game’s worth of data for Skenes so there isn’t much analysis I can do. However, I can confirm that he throws everything really hard. This 95 mph splitter also happens to be perfectly placed.
Paul Skenes‘ Fastball
Look at the horizontal movement on this 100 mph four-seamer from Skenes. That kind of movement with that kind of velocity placed there will generate a lot of weak hacks from LHBs.
Paul Skenes‘ Slider
Skenes had 20 whiffs on the day and it is tempting to use 10 of them to make up this entire article, but I won’t do that. Here’s his best slider whiff.
Héctor Neris‘ Splitter
Neris knows how to pull the string on his splitter. However, it hasn’t been good this year. He uses it 42% of the time and it has just a 25.6% Zone%. With a Zone% that low it better have a high O-Swing%, but it doesn’t. It’s just 34.5%, which is 36th percentile.
Zack Wheeler’s Splitter
Wheeler’s fastball and splitter extension are some of the best in MLB, meaning batters have even less time to decide what’s coming. His splitter has only had average outcomes so far this year, but he continues to be one of the more consistent SP of the last few seasons.
Nestor Cortes‘ Changeup
Cortes only uses his changeup 6% of the time, but it’s been a pretty good pitch when used. It has an 88th percentile O-Swing%, 96th percentile Swinging Strike%, and 87th percentile GB%. It only has a 27th-percentile Total Break, but he does a great job locating it outside. It has a 99th percentile oLoc%.
Christian Scott’s Splitter
Christian Scott’s splitter gets 77th percentile iHB. PLV loves it, considering it is in the 87th percentile. Of course, he hasn’t thrown that many of them yet, but it has an 82nd percentile O-Swing% ICR. Scott certainly looks like he’s going to be a good one.
Triston McKenzie’s Curveball
This curve from McKenzie really falls off the table. Aside from an 81st percentile Swinging Strike% and 72nd percentile wOBA, nothing stands out about McKenzie’s curve, but I like watching it.
Max Fried’s Fastball
This four-seamer looks more like a cutter to me. Based on Kim’s swing, he’s confused too. It also nails the catcher’s spot. It has a 1st percentile Total Break and 59th percentile velocity, but it performs well. It has 96th percentile ICR, and 92nd percentile GB%, and when it is hit in the air, it has 99th percentile Fly Ball Exit Velocity. That’s a good combination.
Freddy Peralta’s Slider
This is a perfectly placed slider by Peralta. His slider is different than most. It is of the big and slow variety. It’s 8th percentile in velocity, coming in at 81.3 mph. It also has 83rd percentile iHB and 72nd percentile iVB. It’s worked for him. It’s allowed just a .175 wOBA and .215 xwOBA.
Photos courtesy of Icon Sportswire
Adapted by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram