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!
Alek Manoah’s Changeup
https://gfycat.com/actuallegitimatebighornedsheep
Alek Manoah started his MLB career off right with six shutout innings in a win over the Yankees on Thursday in game one of the doubleheader. You probably saw this pitch in the GIF breakdown, but Manoah looked real sharp with a 35% CSW, with this nasty changeup fading down and getting Rougned Odor swinging for his first career strikeout. (H/T to PL+ member Burial).
Chris Bassitt’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/scrawnydeterminedbluet
Chris Bassitt was incredibly sharp on Thursday night throwing eight strong in the win over the Angels. Here he slips a gorgeous slider away from Anthony Rendon as he swings right through it.
Shane Bieber’s Knuckle Curveball
https://gfycat.com/ornateconventionalkouprey
Shane Bieber had himself another vintage outing on Thursday with 12 strikeouts in seven innings and an incredible 42% CSW. Though there were many options for his nastiest pitch, this knuckle curve dropping down and striking out Willi Castro swinging truly was the nastiest.
Edwin Diaz’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/fittingflippantamericanwirehair
In game one of the doubleheader for the Mets, Edwin Diaz came out of the pen to close out the game in the 7th, throwing a perfect inning to save the 1-0 win. To finish off this save he blew this 99 mph fastball right past Dom Nuñez, sending the Mets to celebrate.
Sonny Gray’s Two-Seam Fastball
https://gfycat.com/immaterialfancyerne
Sonny Gray turned in a strong six shutout innings against the Nationals on Thursday with five strikeouts. Bringing out the paintbrush on this one, Gray painted this two-seamer across the outside corner catching Starlin Castro watching and sending him back to the dugout.
Lucas Luetge’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/jovialobviousesok
Lucas Luetge had a long 11 pitch at-bat after being brought into the bullpen in game one of the doubleheader Thursday. Luetge eventually would win this battle with this gorgeous slider bearing in and sending Lourdes Gurriel Jr. down swinging. (H/T to PL+ member AnOldWoodenShippy).
Carlos Martinez’s Slider
https://gfycat.com/downrightgranularhellbender
Carlos Martinez took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Diamondbacks, racking up six strikeouts along the way. While striking out the side in the third, Martinez dropped this nasty breaking ball down on Stephen Vogt and winning a long at-bat.
Shane McClanahan’s Fastball
https://gfycat.com/livelyillustriousdodobird
Another day, another nasty outing for Shane McClanahan. In five shutout innings, McClanahan struck out six, including many possible choices for this article. In the end, this 99 mph fastball up and past Andrew Benintendi took the cake and was what I felt was his nastiest pitch of the game.
Ryan Weathers‘ Slider
https://gfycat.com/obviouslatelhasaapso
Across four strong innings on Thursday, Ryan Weathers racked up a CSW of 24% with five strikeouts. Among these strikeouts, not too surprisingly, was this slider bearing into Keston Hiura causing him to wave through it and once again go back to the dugout on a strikeout.
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)