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!
Shane Baz’s Four-Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/FluffyGratefulCollardlizard
Young Tampa Bay Rays starlet Shane Baz has been mightily impressive since making his Major League debut last month. Baz has been dominant across three starts and was pulled early to save his arm after the Rays jumped out to a 7-0 lead in this one. Before leaving, Baz blew this miraculous 97 mph four-seam fastball past Andrew Velazquez. Is it 2022 yet?!
Alek Manoah’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/leanobeseguanaco
Oooooh, this is straight nasty from Blue Jays breakout starter Alek Manoah. He toyed with Kelvin Gutierrez all day, mixing in high fastballs with sliders at the bottom of the zone. This 91 mph sinker with vicious movement high and inside set up another perfectly placed slider for the strikeout.
Kyle Finnegan’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/ImpracticalEnormousBeauceron
Kyle Finnegan has been a big positive at the back end of the Nationals bullpen this season. This beautiful 87 mph split-finger strikeout of Travis Shaw was one of my favorite “prettiest pitches of the day” if that is even a thing.
Kevin Gausman’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/MenacingCrazyArmednylonshrimp
I could not let this final start of Kevin Gausman’s phenomenal season go by without showing his work of art – the perfect 86 mph splitter on the outside of the zone to strike out Jurickson Profar.
Jesús Luzardo’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/WeirdEveryIndianjackal
As an Oakland Athletics fan, it pains me to see Jesús Luzardo getting the quality innings he needs to take the next step with the Marlins. He will be a great pitcher for Miami for a long time – this 85 mph hard-curveball with a nice variation on the grip to completely bamboozle Freddy Galvis.
Griffin Jax’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/GrippingAmbitiousEastsiberianlaika
Sometimes when a team that was expected to compete totally falls flat on their face, the only silver lining is that they end up unearthing some prospects for the future. One of those is Griffin Jax – check out this beautiful 84 mph slider to strike out veteran hitter Michael A. Taylor.
Kris Bubic’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/viciouswearyblackpanther
Something that I have loved about Kris Bubic this year is how he has controlled the location of his whiff pitches. The perfect example is this lovely 80 mph change on the outside of Brent Rooker’s strike zone.
Matt Manning’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/SimplisticPoshHyena
You cannot underestimate the valuable game experience that many young pitchers from teams like the Kansas City Royals and the Detroit Tigers have had this year. Probably my most exciting prospect of them all is Matt Manning. This 80 mph 12-6 curveball to fool veteran Leury García goes a long way to explaining why.
Zac Gallen’s Knuckle-Curve
https://gfycat.com/MediocreLiveBarnacle
If you have the time, go back and watch Zac Gallen’s last two starts including this one – the young Diamondbacks starter has put in two of the most enjoyable outing from any starting pitcher this season, mixing up his arsenal with consummate perfection. This delightful 80 mph knuckle curveball to strike out Brendan Rodgers was a specific highlight.
Julio Urías‘ Curveball
https://gfycat.com/wavymerryasiansmallclawedotter
And to round out the nastiest pitches from the penultimate day of the season, here is Dodgers hot young arm Julio Urías embarrassing veteran Eduardo Escobar with a ripper 82 mph curveball.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)