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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Max Scherzer’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/FastIncompatibleDinosaur
It was a historic outing for Max Scherzer who managed to take a perfect game into the eighth inning, pitch an immaculate inning, and notch his 3,000th career strikeout. However, none of those pitches make the cut today—instead, it’s this disgusting changeup that Scherzer tosses right past Trent Grisham.
Adam Ottavino’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/ImpeccableDeadCarpenterant
Adam Ottavino is known for his ability to bend the baseball across the plate as well as any reliever in the game. Here he bends a beautiful slider over the plate that lands center-center, but it gets so much movement that Eloy Jiménez doesn’t think to swing.
Logan Webb’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/DimpledShadowyBaboon
Logan Webb has been as good as any starter in baseball over the past two months, but yesterday he struggled on the mound. Despite giving up four runs, he still struck out five, including Ian Happ who goes down swinging at this vicious slider.
Lance Lynn’s Cutter
https://gfycat.com/UnlinedDifficultDikkops
This next pitch comes courtesy of Lance Lynn, who made his return from the IL on Sunday. Lynn pitched five fantastic innings and struck out nine, all on his fastball or cutter. Here he utilizes the latter of the two to get a swing and a miss from Enrique Hernández for strike three.
Aaron Nola’s Sinker
https://gfycat.com/ThornyDelectableFrilledlizard
Aaron Nola was solid on the mound for the Phillies yesterday as he struck out ten hitters over just 5.1 innings (he did allow three runs though). Nola’s best stuff of the day came early on this front door sinker that freezes Charlie Blackmon for strike three.
Aaron Ashby’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/SafeDistinctAltiplanochinchillamouse
Next up, we’ve got two back-door breaking balls from Brewers’ pitchers. First off it’s Aaron Ashby who throws a filthy back door slider that freezes Myles Straw for a backwards K.
Eric Lauer’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/NauticalNeedyAustraliankelpie
The next pitch was a curveball from Eric Lauer. Lauer struck out eight over 5.1 innings, but this perfectly located pitch was undoubtedly his best of the day as it induces a swing and a miss from Franmil Reyes.
Lance McCullers’ Slider
https://gfycat.com/SerpentineWeirdDodo
Lance McCullers pitched well yesterday for the Astros as he tossed six quality innings and struck out seven hitters. McCullers struck out a bunch on his knuckle-curve, but it’s this filthy slider that was his best offering of the day.
Max Fried’s Curveball
https://gfycat.com/WellinformedNeedyHornet
Lastly, we’ve got Max Fried’s filthy curveball. Fried used his curve on three of his seven strikeouts over his six frames on the mound. Here he uses the pitch to strike out Bryan De La Cruz on a nasty hook that bounces in the dirt.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)