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.
Emmanuel Clase’s Cutter
Clase’s cutter is on here a lot, largely because it has 99th percentile usage and velocity. It also has 95th percentile PLV and 91st percentile iVB. His overall numbers are outstanding.
Jeffrey Springs‘ Changeup
Springs had 10 whiffs on his changeup today so I had a hard time picking one. This one made the very young and very talented Holliday look silly. He probably hasn’t seen many changeups like that in his short career.
Aroldis Chapman’s Splitter
Chapman’s arm seems rejuvenated. He’s been hitting 103 and occasionally 104. Then you throw a nasty splitter like this and hitters don’t have a chance. When he’s not horribly wild, he’s very tough.
Mark Leiter Jr.’s Splitter
He struggled today, but this is an excellent splitter from Leiter Jr. Ir has an astounding 32.3% SwStr% (96th percentile).
Josh Rogers‘ Sweeper
Rogers has thrown too few innings to comment much about his sweeper, but it doesn’t seem like a great one. However, this one stays in the zone forever before exiting away as Kelenic swings, and misses.
Dylan Cease’s Knuckle Curve
Cease ended up with 17 total whiffs. He doesn’t throw his knuckle curve much, because it’s usually not good. This one has a sharp break and is well-placed.
Jake Cousins‘ Slider
Cousins had a bunch of nasty sliders, but this was the filthiest. He’s been a great find for the Yankees and his slider is a big reason why. He throws it 66% of the time (98th percentile) and it has 83rd percentile SwStr% and 89th percentile CSW%. That’s hard to do when you throw a pitch so much.
Spencer Schwellenbach’s Curveball
Schwellenbach made Rockies hitters go fishing several times in this one. This one was the best. His curveball has 81st percentile SwStr% and 85th percentile CSW%.
Clay Holmes‘ Sweeper
Holmes’ misses his spot with this sweeper, but it gets a ton of movement. Overall, Holmes’ gets 94th percentile Total Break on his sweeper and it has an excellent 5.0% ICR (99th percentile).
DL Hall’s Slider
Hall is very early in his career, but he’s supposed to have great stuff. His slider has been good so far, generating 89th percentile CSW%.
Photos courtesy of Icon Sportswire
Adapted by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram