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.
Matt Waldron’s Knuckleball
We will kick off today’s Nastiest Pitches article with a nasty knuckleball from Matt Waldron. The Padres’ pitcher had six strikeouts against the Dodgers, including this floater to Nick Ahmed.
Aaron Nola’s Changeup
Nola got Alex Verdugo to swing-and-miss here on a changeup that dropped just outside the zone. Verdugo’s expression confirmed that this pitch was indeed nasty. Nola had four punchouts over his 5.2 innings of work.
Will Warren’s Changeup
Staying in that same game, Yankees’ reliever Will Warren offered up a changeup of his own to Kyle Schwarber. The 25-year-old had perfect placement on this one.
Sean Manaea’s Fastball
Manaea was the most dominant of any pitcher last night. The lefty struck out 11 Mets over seven innings while allowing just two hits and a walk. Most of his strikeouts came off the fastball including this rising one to Byron Buxton.
Edward Cabrera’s Changeup
Cabrera totaled seven punchouts over his five innings last night at the Trop. Taylor Walls took an ugly hack against this changeup that kept tailing to the right.
Bryce Elder’s Slider
Bryce Elder allowed just one run in this start against the Brewers. He struck out seven members of the Brew Crew, including this nasty slider to Jake Bauers. This was his final strikeout of the night.
David Festa’s Changeup
Festa did his best effort to match Sean Manaea in this one, but ultimately surrendered two runs over five innings and took the loss. His six strikeouts were impressive, however. This nasty changeup to Francisco Lindor dropped the veteran to one knee.
Gavin Williams‘ Curveball
Despite the rain, Gavin Williams was able to strike out Andy Ibáñez here on a nasty curveball. The Tigers were unable to put up a single run and Williams earned his first win of the year.
Hunter Brown’s Knuckle Curve
Hunter Brown took the loss despite an impressive strikeout game against the Pirates. He punched out eight Pittsburgh bats including this big swing-and-miss from Oneil Cruz. Brown gave up nine hits and four runs to the Pirates here.
Seranthony Domínguez’s Slider
We will finish with perhaps my favorite pitch of the night, this nasty slider from Seranthony Domínguez to rookie Leo Jiménez. You won’t see much more movement on a pitch than this one.