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’s slider is a joy to watch. Therefore, it’s fortunate for us (not the batters) that he throws it 40% of the time. 90th percentile O-Swing%, 88th percentile SwStr%, and 95th percentile CSW%. It’s also allowed just a .204 wOBA and .210 xwOBA.
Angel Zerpa’s Slider
We’ll follow one great slider up with another. Overall Zerpa’s slider isn’t anything special, but this one gets great movement and is excellently placed. This is all made more impressive by the fact that Rafael Devers is the batter.
Jake Cousins‘ Slider
I promise that I’m not going to only choose sliders. This might be the best of the bunch. Cousins has been quite a find for the Yankees and the slider is the main reason why. He throws it 63% of the time and it has a 94th percentile CSW% and 80th percentile ICR. That’s a good combination.
Jhoan Duran’s Fastball
Look at the horizontal movement on that one. And 103 mph to boot (whatever that means). It’s impressive that Duran averages 100.4 mph on his fastball, but still manages to get 94th percentile iHB.
Carlos Rodón’s Slider
This slider from Rodón gets great depth. He only managed to go 4 innings today, but he did end up with 7 Ks and 15 whiffs.
Carson Fulmer’s Changeup
What excellent horizontal break and location on this changeup. Seemingly out of nowhere, Fulmer ended up with 14 whiffs on the day. I really like watching pitches like this.
Brayan Bello’s Slider
This slider stays in the zone long enough to entice Salvador Pérez to bite on it. Bello has been up and down this year and 2 HRs in this one hurt him, but he has a bright future with nasty stuff like this.
Yusei Kikuchi’s Changeup
This changeup from Kikuchi was perfectly placed and he knew it. He was walking around the mound before Walker even finished his swing. It seems like Kikuchi could explode into an ace any moment now.
Victor Vodnik’s Changeup
I’ll admit that prior to today I’d never hear of Victor Vodnik, but I was impressed by his stuff. He touched 100 mph and get a look at this power changeup. He’s not been good this year, but there might be something here in the long run.
Jose Quintana’s Sweeper
Quintana’s been on a great run recently. This sweeper from him is surprisingly nasty. Few thought he still had it in him coming into this year.
Photos courtesy of Icon Sportswire
Adapted by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram