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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Aaron Nola’s Knuckle-Curve
https://gfycat.com/celebratedglamorousflyingsquirrel
Aaron Nola and the surging Phillies hosted the Dodgers on Tuesday in a matchup of playoff hopefuls. Nola struck out the Dodgers’ new addition Trea Turner on a great breaking ball for the first out of the game.
Freddy Peralta’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/bronzeunitedacornweevil
Freddy Peralta’s primary breaking pitch is his slider that he uses about three times as often as his curveball. His curve is still pretty good, though, as the pitch carries a .086 wOBA in 2021. He threw a good one here to Ian Happ to pick up the second out of the third.
Max Scherzer’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/adventurouschillyanchovy
The Dodgers’ other new addition, Max Scherzer, took the hill and his second start for his new club went just as well as his first. Unfortunately, his night was cut short due to rain. Scherzer struck out six in only three and a third, including Travis Jankowski here with a nasty cutter.
Eduardo Rodriguez’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/rapidblackirishsetter
Eduardo Rodriguez has undoubtedly not had the 2021 season he had hoped for, though a lot of the underlying numbers show he has been extremely unlucky. He’s sporting a career-high K rate this year and racked up the strikeouts on Tuesday evening, finishing the night with eight. Here’s a nice backdoor cutter to catch Jordan Luplow looking. And who doesn’t love an enthusiastic Joe West punch out?
Sonny Gray’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/welloffmadinchworm
Sonny Gray took advantage of opposing pitcher Drew Smyly with a nasty back-foot breaking ball. This came in the middle of a string of five straight strikeouts by the Reds’ hurler as Gray ended the night with eight.
Andrew Kittredge’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/perfectadventuroushound
Andrew Kittredge has been one of the best relievers in baseball this year, thanks in part to his fantastic slider. The pitch has a whiff rate of 41%, and Kittredge picked up five more strikeouts on the pitch Tuesday; this one against a flailing Franchy Cordero.
Garrett Whitlock’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/hopefulincomparablefirefly
We’re tripling up in the Red Sox, and Rays’ game as Boston reliever Garrett Whitlock makes the list with a nasty changeup. Though he did blow the lead in the seventh, Whitlock bounced back to record a pair of strikeouts in the eighth. Francisco Mejia went down on three straight changeups.
Zac Gallen’s Knuckle-Curve
https://gfycat.com/relievedidleguernseycow
Zac Gallen led the Diamondbacks out of the desert and into the bay to take on the first-place Giants. The Giants managed the victory, but Gallen did pick up a strikeout an inning and showed off this sharp breaking ball to Brandon Crawford.
Triston McKenzie’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/inbornwelcomeintermediateegret
Triston McKenzie threw six strong innings and left in line for the win, but the Cleveland bullpen couldn’t hold the lead as the A’s would go on to win in extras. McKenzie tallied five K’s on the night, three on his curveball, including this great one to Matt Olson.
Hunter Strickland’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/belatedcalmalaskankleekai
Poor Ian Happ was on the wrong end of Nastiest Pitches twice on Tuesday; once in the matinee and once in the nightcap. Hunter Strickland looked dominant in this one and struck out the side in his lone inning of work.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)
Loaisiga’s 5th pitch was SIIIIIIIIIIIICK today, 8/11 vs the Royals.