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.
As a bonus for PL+ members, let us know about a pitch on the PL+ Discord in the Nasty Pitches Channel, and if your suggestion is included the next day, you’ll be entered into a weekly drawing for a free T-shirt!
Max Fried’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/deargleefularthropods
The hometown kid, Max Fried, had the chance to send Atlanta to World Series on Thursday but struggled his way through 4.2 innings of work. He allowed almost as many homers as strikeouts as he struck out three Dodgers, while two balls were sent out of the park. His first inning of work was quite sharp as shown by this 96 mph fastball painted at the knees, sending Corey Seager down looking for his first strikeout of the day.
Evan Phillips‘ Slider
https://gfycat.com/redeasygoingcirriped
After Joe Kelly was pulled in the first inning with an apparent injury, the Dodgers were forced to turn to Evan Phillips to continue the planned bullpen game. Phillips proceeded to then retire the next four batters he faced, with three coming via the strikeout—a very impressive outing helping to keep the Dodgers in the game, before their comeback in the second inning. Among those three strikeouts was this impressive slider moving into the lefty batter’s box to send Dansby Swanson down swinging.
Brusdar Graterol’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/famouslikablejunebug
Brusdar Graterol was once again extremely sharp in his two innings of relief on Thursday with no runner reaching base as he retired the side in order both times, picking up two punchouts along the way. Mixing this slider in with his already nasty arsenal, Graterol was able to send Adam Duvall down on strikes as he flailed at this breaker out of the zone.
Blake Treinen’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/infiniteremarkablejavalina
Every time Blake Treinen takes the bound you have to keep an eye out for his nastiness. While he did not record any punchouts, he does make the list with this 100 mph sinker that paints the outside corner, leaving the red-hot Eddie Rosario unable to do anything but watch it go by.
Corey Knebel’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/hugerespectfulanole
Corey Knebel punched out the side in his inning of work on Thursday, helping to set the game up for Kenley Jansen to finish off the Dodgers’ Game 5 victory. With multiple curveballs potentially being on this list, it was this curveball dropping down and welcoming Jorge Soler back to the roster and sending him down on strikes that was the most impressive of the night.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)