Every week we review the nastiest pitches from the previous week in glorious HD GIFs. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite pitch and check back Saturday to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the First Half Contest. Week 17’s winner was Jakob Junis‘ Slider again. Blake Treinen’s month long reign is over, and a new king of the week is crowned.
Did we miss your favorite pitch? Send us a tweet next time @PitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
This week’s pitches include a slooooooow breaking ball, a position player who should think about becoming a two-way player, and a few great Fastballs. Check back next Saturday to see which GIF our readers picked as the nastiest pitch of the week.
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José Alvarado’s Fastball – Ya flinched! The reaction from Renato Nunez says it all as he literally thinks this 99 MPH Two-Seamer right down the pipe from José Alvarado is about to hit him. Pitches with this much speed should not be allowed to have that kind of bite to them. Absurd.
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Zack Greinke’s Curveball – So Greinke has a 90 mile per hour fastball, an 87 mile per hour changeup, a hard slider and then this gigantic, loopy eephus pitch. Oh, and just for the heck of it he can vary his timing up on the mound as well. Probably why his ERA is just south of 3.00 on the year.
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Matt Davidson’s Curveball – Yes, that is third baseman Matt Davidson pitching here, and yes, he strikes out reigning MVP Giancarlo Stanton with a surprisingly nasty curveball. Baseball is fun.
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Masahiro Tanaka’s Fastball – Tanaka broke out the cartoonish action on this fastball to get Boston’s Andrew Benintendi looking on Sunday Night Baseball. The Yankees starter ended up with nine strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
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Corey Kluber’s Fastball – Kluber’s two-seamer is one of the nastiest pitches in all of baseball, and it’s impossible not to include on this list. Here he darts this thing back over the plate and down in the zone, freezing slugger Justin Upton.
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Blake Treinen’s Fastball – Sure, the A’s closer doesn’t gas it up to 100-plus on the regular like a certain Cardinals rookie, but it’s still not clear how anyone could touch this fastball to Nick Castellanos. Or this one to Ronny Rodriguez. Or any number of others Treinen laid on Tigers hitters Friday night during his scoreless pair of innings.
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner may be featured in the GIF of the Third Quarter Contest.
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