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.
Chris Sale’s Slider
Sale makes Nastiest Pitches easy. Just look for his slider. He throws it 40% of the time, but it still manages a 90th percentile SwStr% and 96th percentile Str-ICR.
Brayan Bello’s Slider
The 35.3% CSW on Bello’s slider is 89th percentile. He’s improved somewhat as the season’s gone on, and I understand that he is still just 25. However, personally, I don’t understand the hype around him. With 338.0 IP in his career, he has a 1.44 WHIP. That’s not a big-league pitcher.
Nathan Eovaldi’s Splitter
Unlike this GIF’s resolution, Eovaldi’s splitter is still one of the game’s best. 86th percentile SwStr%, 84th percentile CSW%, and 88th percentile Str-ICR are the makings of a dominant pitch. He’s struggled somewhat of late, but he knows how to pitch.
MacKenzie Gore’s Changeup
This changeup from Gore is nasty more because of perfect placement than movement. He throws it just 9% of the time, but it does have 91st percentile CSW%.
Carlos Rodón’s Changeup
Rodón’s changeup has been making more and more appearances on Nastiest Pitches. Its 12% usage is the highest since 2021. Its 90th percentile Total Break has led to 82nd percentile O-Swing%.
David Festa’s Changeup
I do believe this is one of the nastiest pitches I’ve included this year. It briefly hangs on the outside of the plate before darting down and away. It ranks highly in too many areas to list them. Suffice it to say it is one of the game’s best changeups.
Tanner Bibee’s Curveball
Many of Bibee’s whiffs tonight were on hanging sliders. I’m not sure what was wrong with the Rangers. This relatively rare curveball from Bibee is excellent and makes one of the game’s best hitters look silly.
Chris Bassitt’s Sinker
I’m not sure this perfectly placed backdoor sinker is very high on the “nasty scale,” but it is pretty. Plus I get to decide what gets put on here. Bassitt does this with his sinker a lot. It has 88th percentile CS%.
Aroldis Chapman’s Slider
Even at 36 years old you’d be hard-pressed to find someone with better stuff than Chapman. He had multiple candidates tonight, but I decided to go with this sharp slider. He had an incredible 7 whiffs on just 24 pitches tonight. That’s an astonishing 29% SwStr%.
Jake Cousins‘ Slider
Cousins’ slider is another frequent contributor to Nastiest Pitches. He has been excellent since joining the Yankees and this slider is a big reason why.
Photos courtesy of Icon Sportswire
Adapted by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram