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.
Mason Miller’s Fastball
Mason Miller made a relief appearance last night, so naturally, his fastball will be featured at the top of today’s article. The flamethrower struck out the sides yet again, including this 103 mph fastball to Ezequiel Tovar. Miller has thrown the most pitches over 100 mph this season with 141. The next closest is Michael Kopech with 79.
Yusei Kikuchi’s Changeup
Kikuchi might be the most underrated pitcher in the league right now, and even the Blue Jays announcers were saying such a statement in this clip before I had to remove the audio to make this GIF. The left-hander struck out six White Sox batters in this one, including this swing-and-miss by Paul DeJong on a changeup. Kikuchi has the 16th-lowest ERA in the majors at 2.64.
Charlie Morton’s Curveball
Charlie Morton was on top of his game last night, tying his season-high in strikeouts with eight against the Cubs. The 40-year-old throws a heavy dose of curveballs at this point in his career, totaling 39.7% of his pitches thrown. Here he makes Nico Hoerner chase on a curveball that crosses right over the plate.
Brandon Pfaadt’s Sweeper
Pfaadt had a tall task ahead of him going up against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, but the second-year pitcher handled it easily with one of his best outings of the season. He gave up just two runs and struck out seven, including this 85 mph sweeper to Teoscar Hernández.
Javier Assad’s Curveball
This might be my favorite one of the night. Javier Assad has looked incredible for the Cubs this season, trailing just Shota Imanaga in ERA at 1.70. Assad is due for some regression, however, with an xFIP sitting at 4.17 on the year. He did give up a season-high two homers in this one, but he also faced one of the toughest offenses in the league.
Garrett Crochet’s Cutter
The Crochet leg kick is back, even though my eyes initially went towards the ads for both ingredients of a PB&J sandwich. Either way, Crochet got George Springer to whiff on this nasty cutter down and in. The rookie has not allowed a run over his last three starts and has struck out 21 batters.
Fernando Cruz’s Splitter
Cruz was the setup man in the eighth and paved the way for Alexis Díaz to close out the game in the ninth. This is one of the better one-two punches in baseball at the moment. Cruz struck out two Padres in his relief appearance, including this perfectly executed splitter to Ha-Seong Kim.
Adrian Houser’s Slider
Josh Naylor was swinging for the fences on this one. This is impressive because Naylor strikes out just 14.2% of the time at the dish. This was one of the bright spots for Houser in this game, as the right-hander ended up surrendering six runs over just five innings to the Guardians.
Andrew Abbott’s Sweeper
Abbott gave up zero runs for the first time all season in this one. The left-hander went seven strong and punched out just two, including this nasty sweeper to Jackson Merrill. It’s always dangerous when Abbott pitches at Great American Ballpark with his elevated 1.42 HR/9, but he was able to keep the ball in the park here.
José Alvarado’s Cutter
We will finish the same way the Phillies finished their game last night, with a 92 mph cutter to Marcus Semien. Alvarado hasn’t been having his best season this year, but he was able to successfully close out this close game against the defending World Series champions to improve the Phillies’ record to an MLB-best 35-14.