Every morning, the We Love Baseball crew reviews the Nastiest Pitches from the previous day’s games. If you see something you think should be included here be sure to tweet @PitcherList to let us know. Or, if you’re a PL+ Member and part of our Discord, shout it out in the Nastiest Pitches channel.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Splitter
Yamamoto’s six scoreless innings lowered his season ERA to 3.54. His fastball has been hit hard returning a .454 wOBA (not including yesterday). However, his splitter has been nearly unhittable with a .192 wOBA allowed and a 42.4% whiff rate. Ildemaro Vargas swung right over the top of this beauty for the esteemed right-hander’s fifth K of the afternoon.
MacKenzie Gore’s Fastball
Yesterday’s matinee in the Nation’s capital turned into a riveting pitcher’s duel thanks to this man, who racked up 17 swings and misses (Yamamoto had nine). Gore’s first of four punchouts came on this blistering heater upstairs to Shohei Ohtani.
Cam Booser’s Slider
It’s been a remarkable journey for Cam Booser. A long string of injuries led him away from the game in 2017 and into carpentry. However, he returned four years later, made his way to the bigs, and is now a weapon in the Sox’s pen. His lone strikeout yesterday afternoon came on this slider that brought Brayan Rocchio to his knees. The pitch before this was nearly identical.
Triston McKenzie’s Curveball
Dr. Sticks saved his best for last with this terrific nose-to-toes bender that sent Jarren Duran packing to end the fourth. McKenzie wasn’t eligible for the win as he didn’t return for the fifth but his season-high seven punchouts helped nudge the Guardians to a 6-4 victory over the Bo Sox.
Bryan Abreu’s Slider
Yes, it’s April but seeing the Astros three games behind the A’s in the loss column is almost unbelievable. They’ve had some trouble in the pen with early-season struggles from many including Bryan Abreu, who relinquished a two-run shot to Pete Crow-Armstrong that proved pivotal in yesterday’s 3-1 loss to the Cubs. Still, he recovered by tossing this nasty slider to Alexander Canario for his first of two punchouts.
Mason Miller’s Fastball
Mason Miller notched his sixth save of the season in a 3-1 win over the Yankees. The frustration from Juan Soto is all you need to see. Including him almost feels like cheating. I’ve oft wondered what Jacob deGrom might look like as a closer, this might be it.
Justin Verlander’s Curveball
Verlander was a little inefficient in his season debut needing 95 pitches to get 13 outs. However, he racked up 16 swings and misses while holding the Cubs off the scoreboard. This beautiful hook to Dansby Swanson helped set up his second strikeout of the season while dodging a bases-loaded jam in the first.
Griffin Jax’s Sweeper
Steven Okert started the ninth with the Twins leading the White Sox 6-2 but he gave up a leadoff single and eventually loaded the bases by plunking Gavin Sheets. Jax entered and doused the rally by dispatching Eloy Jiménez with this sweeper en route to his fourth save of the year.
Lucas Erceg’s Fastball
Miller gets all the attention in Oakland and rightfully so. But he’s not the only flamethrower in their pen. Lucas Erceg’s two-seamer has some serious run and tied Aaron Judge in a knot for the second out of the seventh.
Trevor Megill’s Curveball
On his 103rd appearance, Trevor Megill nabbed his first career save. He started Jack Suwinski with a heater inside for a called strike then snapped this hook before getting him to fly out for the last out of the Brewers’ 7-5 win over the Pirates.
It’ll be a sad day when we can no longer watch that JV curveball