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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Shohei Ohtani’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/constantemotionalalbacoretuna
Shohei Ohtani had one of his best starts of the season on Thursday, going six innings and striking out five while squaring off against one of the game’s top prospects. Before allowing a run on a home run to Jonathan Schoop, Ohtani dropped this gorgeous splitter down and away from him and sending him back down swinging.
Eli Morgan’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/goodmadeupdarklingbeetle
Eli Morgan may not be a name who you expected to find on this list but he dropped this nasty changeup to Cedric Mullins, getting Mullins way out in front and striking him out. While the final line wasn’t anything special, this changeup was a beaut and helped strike out a difficult hitter to do so.
Kevin Gausman’s Splitter
https://gfycat.com/thicknecessarybluemorphobutterfly
Kevin Gausman continued his Cy Young caliber campaign on Thursday with eight strong innings against the woeful Diamondbacks. He produced the highest CSW of these pitchers with a 34% CSW, including a 48% CSW on his signature splitter. When he can drop it down as he did here to Josh Reddick, it’s no wonder why it’s involved in the conversation as one of the best pitches in the game.
Charlie Morton’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/concernedsimilarbutterfly
Charlie Morton took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in Thursday’s win over the Cardinals. While that may not be the accomplishment it once was, Morton truly was untouchable in his 7.2 shutout innings on Thursday turning in his best start of the season capping it off with a 32% CSW. His curveball produced the most whiffs on Thursday, including this pitch to Tyler O’Neill as it dropped down and out of the zone at the last minute making O’Neill look silly.
Kyle Hendricks‘ Two-Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/ageddampasiantrumpetfish
Kyle Hendricks had multiple pitches which could have made it onto this list as he pushed his 26% CSW to six shutout innings with seven strikeouts in the win over the Mets. Though there were many options, this two-seam fastball crossing back in over the inside corner with nothing for Jonathan Villar to do with it take the cake as Villar just watched it go by.
Marcus Stroman’s Split-Change
https://gfycat.com/secondhandsinglearchaeopteryx
Marcus Stroman’s dominance this year has truly been one of my favorite storylines of this entire season. With each start, he continues to ascend the list of my favorite pitchers to watch work and though he took the loss on Thursday it was not without eight strikeouts in seven innings of work and a 33% CSW. While many of his pitches could have made this list, the above pitch made Jake Marisnick look absolutely foolish as he bent the knee hoping to make some sort of contact as the ball dropped down in the zone.
Jonathan Loaisiga’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/embellishedshadowycommabutterfly
Jonathan Loaisiga has been one of the most important Yankees’ bullpen members this year and continues to flash the lights out stuff we’ve seen from him. His nastiest pitch in preserving Thursday’s lead was this 100 mph sinker that crossed the outside corner not allowing Cavan Biggio to do anything but just watch it go by.
Brandon Woodruff’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/popularblackbantamrooster
Brandon Woodruff disappointed all fantasy managers with his clunker of a performance Thursday in Coors Field. However, early on in this start he perfectly located this fastball to Charlie Blackmon to strike him out and send him back for his first of the night.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)