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.
Jared Jones’ Fastball
Holding the Dodgers to zero runs is an impressive feat alone, but Jared Jones managed to do just that while striking out six. Here he catches Jason Heyward swinging on an upstairs fastball at 99 mph. Los Angeles gets the back-to-back combo of Jones and Paul Skenes in this series. I have a feeling we see some more nasty pitches in this game tomorrow.
Shota Imanaga’s Splitter
Imanaga’s splitter has been a deadly weapon this year. He throws the pitch at the third-highest rate in the league at 33.3%. He only pitched four innings in this Chicago vs. Chicago match, but he managed to punch out six batters.
Trevor Richards‘ Changeup
This might be my favorite nasty pitch from yesterday. This changeup takes a wild break off the plate and gets a frontrunner for A.L. MVP to take an ugly hack. Not enough people know Richards as a nasty pitcher, but he sought to change that last night.
Triston McKenzie’s Curveball
I thought for sure Maikel Garcia’s helmet was going to fall off on this one. McKenzie makes him bite on this 78 mph curve that falls just below the strike zone. Also, am I crazy for seeing a Tyler Glasnow resemblance in this delivery?
Trevor Megill’s Fastball
You know when Megill enters the game there will be heat. He was able to get the Brew Crew out of a jam here with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth. 100 mph on the dot tends to do the trick.
Frankie Montas‘ Slider
Where did this Montas wizardry come from? He had his best game of the season by far at Coors Field of all places. The big right-hander punched out nine Rockies over four innings while surrendering just one hit. This slider to Elehuris Montero was one of my favorites on the night.
David Peterson’s Slider
Another bat went flying, and Jesse Winker didn’t seem too concerned with where it landed. He was too busy being frozen by this 87 mph slider from Peterson. This was one of just two strikeouts on the night for the lefty.
Luis Gil’s Changeup
Luis Gil has been one of the best pitchers over the last month, shocking almost everyone. Since May 1, he has allowed just three runs over seven starts. You read that correctly. If you take a peek at this nasty changeup to Alex Kirilloff then you can see why he’s been so dominant.
Tyler Glasnow’s Curveball
Glasnow did Glasnow-like things in his start against the Pirates last night. He struck out nine and gave up one run in his first-ever start against Pittsburgh. O’Neill Cruz didn’t have a chance on this late-breaking curve.
Max Fried’s Curveball
Max Fried, who is not known for striking out batters at a high clip, struck out 13 Boston bats at Fenway yesterday. It was a career-high mark for Fried, who delivered this arching curveball to Jarren Duran. It was hard to pick from one of his 13 punch outs, but you can’t go wrong with the signature Fried-curve.