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.
As a bonus for PL+ members, let us know about a pitch on the PL+ Discord in the Nasty Pitches Channel, and if your suggestion is included the next day, you’ll be entered into a weekly drawing for a free T-shirt!
Matt Brash’s Knuckle Curve
https://gfycat.com/flowerylonechupacabra
Matt Brash is literally a create-a-player you’d see out of MLB The Show. No baseball should move the way Brash can make a ball move. He’s been featured in Nastiest Pitches every time he’s pitched this season, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that trend continues for most of the year.
Matt Festa’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/silverlegalkoodoo
Everyone is raving about Matt Brash’s filthy breaking stuff in Seattle, but the other Matt in their pitching staff has some filth of his own. Keep an eye on Matt Festa; he currently has a 37.4% CSW overall over 5.1 innings out of Seattle’s bullpen.
Erik Swanson’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/amusedaffectionatebluewhale
Three straight Mariners pitchers? Yeah, that’s right. This was a really fun game to go through as it seemed like everyone on the Mariners was throwing junk all night long. I’ve never really thought of Erik Swanson having nasty stuff, but this changeup that disappears off the plate is certified filth.
Ryne Stanek’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/distantunlinedfiddlercrab
This pitch made me gasp out loud the first time I saw it. 89 MPH with a ton of very late movement that still almost clipped the zone? How on earth does anyone hit this? Or, for that matter, how does anyone even lay off of it? Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tried to and still couldn’t. That’s straight-up filth.
Devin Williams’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/weakallbluejay
The Airbender has been hit or miss early on this year, but he dropped a couple of filthy changeups on the Phillies yesterday, all of which were worthy of inclusion here. This one made Jean Segura look like he belongs in AAA.
Luis García’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/maddetailedeft
There was a ton of excellent breaking stuff yesterday to choose from, and the pickings were slim for sinkers/fastballs. I had to break it up somehow, and this sinker from Luis García fit the bill. Excellent movement, great velocity, and an A+ reaction from the batter. Nasty.
Adam Ottavino’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/ambitiousimpishgrayling
Adam Ottavino has been featured in Nastiest Pitches many times over the years, mostly for his (sometimes) unhittable slider. This one is right up there with some of his nastiest sliders we’ve seen; however, it’s a shame that we can’t truly appreciate it because of Arizona’s awful camera angle. That’s a recurring theme here in the last half of this article – bad camera angles robbing us of a truly filthy GIF.
Caleb Thielbar’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/acrobaticimpureadmiralbutterfly
Who doesn’t love a good Meat Raffle curveball? The slider has been Caleb Theilbar’s best pitch by CSW% this year, but the curveball is still a beautiful thing to behold.
Dylan Bundy’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/fragrantwiltedibadanmalimbe
Dylan Bundy had a great start yesterday, though his stuff wasn’t all that impressive. However, for our purposes, we only need one pitch, and this changeup certainly delivered on the nastiness scale.
Austin Gomber’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/shadowyparchedcanvasback
The Rockies’ broadcast was oohing and aahing all over Austin Gomber’s curveball for much of his outing, and for good reason. This pitch gets a ton of beautiful movement, though it’s a shame that a lot of the movement is hidden by a terrible camera angle in Detroit. Either way, the pitch is still nasty enough for inclusion here.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)