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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José Berríos‘ Curveball
https://gfycat.com/illinformedweehylaeosaurus
José Berríos used four different pitches to strike out ten Twins hitters in the Blue Jays tough loss Friday night. Berríos did his part and flashed his signature curveball with ridiculous lateral movement in the process. Ryan Jeffers was no match for Berríos.
Anthony Gose’s Four-Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/jauntycrispgopher
Anthony Gose works as fast as just about any reliever I’ve seen recently and his fastball gets to the plate quickly to help speed things up. Gose’s return to the majors as a pitcher is a great story and Gose’s fastball is no joke, as Andrew Vaughn can attest.
Gerrit Cole’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/constantcleverbobolink
Gerrit Cole wasn’t at his best last night, but after getting blown up in his last start Cole will be happy with his six strikeouts and the win. Cole Ks Hunter Renfroe with this high-powered slider to finish the inning.
Eric Lauer’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/failingclassicadamsstaghornedbeetle
The Brewers player development staff seems to have figured out the blueprint to teach an effective hard changeup. Eric Lauer’s changeup is awfully reminiscent of the change thrown by a Brewers pitcher featured in Nastiest Pitches last Saturday, Aaron Ashby. Lauer throws his changeup only about 11% of the time, but that’s more than double his change usage last year and I can see why looking at this pitch to Javier Báez.
Shane Bieber’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/completedishonestelk
Shane Bieber looked like his old self last night in his three-inning scoreless outing Friday. Bieber spotted this slider maybe just a smidge off the outside corner, but with two strikes the pitch was too close for Luis Bob to take.
Edward Cabrera’s Four-Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/angelicseveralbuffalo
Edward Cabrera flashed the potential in his fast and loose arm against the Rays but also got hit around a bit to show how far he still has to come to sustain success in the big leagues. Cabrera froze Wander Franco with this precisely spotted fastball on the inside black.
Bailey Ober’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/colorlessringedlice
The camera angle point of view doesn’t do this pitch justice. Bailey Ober gets good lateral movement on this changeup that fades away from Corey Dickerson’s bat to induce the swinging strikeout.
Liam Hendriks‘ Slider
https://gfycat.com/jealoushairydore
Liam Hendriks‘ four-seam fastball is the pitch I’m most used to including in Nastiest Pitches but Hendriks’ slider is a decent pitch that to the naked eye gets a ton of downward break. José Ramírez seemed to be geared up for the fastball because he ended up way out in front of the breaking ball.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)