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.
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Charlie Morton’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/illfatedliveduck
As the Braves continue to push for a playoff spot, Charlie Morton provided another quality start on Thursday against the Diamondbacks. Morton struck out eight batters in six strong innings, boasting a 32% CSW. Among these strikeouts includes this curveball to Josh Rojas, that is a prime candidate for the pitch of the year, as this curveball drops down and in forcing Rojas to take one of the most uncomfortable swings I’ve seen.
Reynaldo Lopez’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/constantjovialflies
Reynaldo Lopez made a spot start in the first game of a doubleheader against Cleveland, striking out four in 3.1 innings. Here we see him pump a 99 mile per hour fastball right past the bat of Harold Ramirez, sending him down swinging.
Aaron Bummer’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/shinylimpcrocodileskink
Aaron Bummer picked up the win in relief of Lopez on Thursday, pitching a scoreless inning as he retried Cleveland 1-2-3. One of these outs was via strikeout, shown here with a slider that broke an impressive 21 inches back across the plate as it buckled the knees of Andres Gimenez and sent him down looking.
Chris Bassitt’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/tornpoorindianskimmer
The coolest story in Major League Baseball on Thursday was Chris Bassitt returning to the mound after the scary moment earlier this year with him taking a line drive off the face. The Athletics eased him back with three shutout innings against Seattle as he flashed his impressive changeup, here catching Kyle Seager looking on one that dropped right at the bottom of the zone.
Yu Darvish’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/baggypoliticaldiamondbackrattlesnake
Yu Darvish struggled on Thursday, unable to get out of the 6th inning but still striking out seven Giants. Among these strikeouts was this nasty splitter to Brandon Belt that drops just below the zone as Belt swings straight through.
Casey Sadler’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/deficientphysicalcopepod
Casey Sadler came on in relief on Thursday, holding the Mariner lead over two strong innings. The most impressive of his pitches was this sinker crossing back over the plate and catching Matt Olson looking, one of his two punchouts.
Michael Kopech’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/brightveneratedgadwall
Making the start in Game 2 of the doubleheader, Michael Kopech threw two hitless innings while striking out four, displaying the stuff that makes him one of the most exciting young arms in the sport. Of these four strikeouts, the most impressive was this slider dropping down and in on Jose Ramirez, leaving him unable to hold up on the swing and sending him packing.
Luis Castillo’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/densemintyitalianbrownbear
Luis Castillo picked up another loss on Thursday, but he did his part by striking out six over six strong innings, as he was just unable to get enough run support. His stuff was better than the stat line would suggest, here supporting a 30% CSW as he drops a gorgeous sinker into Carter Kieboom who swings right through it.
Emmanuel Clase’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/barrenabsolutehedgehog
Emmanuel Clase picked up the win on Thursday after blowing the save but limiting the damage in the eventual win over the White Sox. As with most of his outings, he displayed stuff nasty enough to make it onto this article, throwing three straight nasty sliders, including this one past Adam Engel for his lone strikeout of the evening.
Lance McCullers’ Knuckle-Curveball
https://gfycat.com/sillydemandingcreature
Lance McCullers looked sharp in six strong innings against the Angels on Thursday, with his knucklecurve being his best pitch as usual. Here we see him perfect place it along the outside edge to catch Shohei Ohtani looking.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)