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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Domingo Acevedo’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/obeseglitteringibizanhound
With only five games to choose from on Monday it was slim pickins’ for Nastiest Pitches, but this changeup from Domingo Acevedo would have made it in here even with a full slate. I only wish there were a slo-mo shot of this pitch to better see the movement on it, because it was straight up filthy.
Reiver Sanmartin’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/glamorouswarmarmednylonshrimp
Reiver Sanmartin made his debut on Monday night and it went pretty darn well. You can read about it in today’s roundup, but for our purposes, all we care about is this nasty slider that wasn’t done proper justice due to Cincinnati’s terrible camera angle. Sanmartin’s delivery is Aaron Bummer-esque and I’d like to see what the pitch looks like in a park with a better camera. We can at least see how much late drop it gets, and it’s a lot, enough to totally fool Yoshi Tsutsugo.
Ryan Burr’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/somberyellowishheifer
This pitch had me fooled—79 MPH, a ton of vertical drop. Looks kind of like a knuckle curve, right? Well, Baseball Savant has it classified as a slider. I trust Savant so no arguments here, but regardless, it’s nasty.
Cal Quantrill’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/selfassuredcaninedachshund
Cleveland also has a poor camera angle and it doesn’t do this sinker justice. There’s a lot more horizontal movement there than the camera shows, and that pitch was a ball until the very last moment when it darted back over the plate.
Matt Andriese’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/personalscholarlyguillemot
Matt Andriese executed this pitch perfectly. Not only does it get a ton of movement and fool Sean Murphy into a flailing, off-balance swing, it also hits its spot in a perfect location. Gimme more of that, Matt.
Jackson Kowar’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/realisticvictoriousazurevase
Another pitch that is robbed by a bad camera angle, this changeup from Jackson Kowar sails across the plate and lands just under the bat of José Ramírez for a nasty strikeout. This pitch likely would have been higher on the list if we had a better view of it.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)