This one hits a bit differently! Fans of our previously daily nastiest pitches articles will be familiar with the content in this new weekly article that covers all the need-to-know highlights of baseball from the past week in GIF form. From cool moments, the nastiest pitches, and the moments you’d want to forget, our GIFs of the week are sure to entertain.
Defensive Wizardry
Short Showing off Long Range
MJ Melendez tried to drop a blooper into no-man’s land for a base hit, but Tigers shortstop Zack Short covered a ton of ground to make a fantastic over-the-shoulder catch and rob Melendez of a hit.
Fermín’s Diving Stop
It’s been a season to forget in St. Louis with the Cardinals occupying the cellar of the NL Central, an unfamiliar place for them. They managed to pick up a 4-1 victory on Tuesday, in part due to this great play by José Fermín saving a pair of runs. Fermín made a fantastic diving stop and topped it off with a strong throw to first to just beat Willy Adames.
Nastiest Pitches
Tyler Glasnow’s Curveball
The Red Sox are limping toward the finish line to close out September and Tyler Glasnow made quick work of them on Wednesday as the Rays’ righty struck out nine over five scoreless innings. One of the few bright spots for the Red Sox of late, Wilyer Abreu, couldn’t hold up on this nasty breaking ball from Glasnow.
José Berríos‘ Sinker
José Berríos concluded his regular season with a solid outing though he was outdueled by the probable Cy Young award winner, Gerrit Cole. Berrios struck out ten in the outing and caught Anthony Volpe looking on a great backdoor two-seamer.
Kyle Bradish’s Curveball
Kyle Bradish may be having one of the most underappreciated seasons this year as the second-year righty is just one of five qualified starters with a sub-3.00 ERA. He’ll look to carry that success to the postseason as the Orioles look to lock down the AL’s number-one seed.
Edward Cabrera’s Changeup
Edward Cabrera has a full arsenal of nasty pitches, but the young Marlin has had trouble finding the zone in his short career. His 27.7% K rate emphasizes his potential, though his walk rate of 15.2% rates among the league’s worst. He walked only a pair on Sunday and picked up five Ks in as many innings. He struck out Christian Yelich here on a 96 MPH changeup.
Sawyer Gipson-Long’s Changeup
Thursday’s AL Central matchup provided us with a look at two young, exciting pitchers. Cole Ragans cruised for six innings before running into trouble in the seventh and Sawyer Gipson-Long provided the Tigers with five innings of two-run ball. Gipson-Long struck out six including Nick Loftin here on a great change.
Brandon Pfaadt’s Slider
Brandon Pfaadt had some well-documented struggles after his initial call-up resulting in a trip back down to the Triple A club in June. Since his recall to the majors in late July, Pfaadt has found more success and closed out his regular season with arguably his best start of 2023 on Wednesday. Pfaadt punched out eight over five and two-thirds as the Diamondbacks continued their postseason push with a 3-0 victory.
Top Long Balls
Wallner’s Moonshot
The tracker says 463 ft. but Matt Wallner may have hit this one to St. Paul.
Olson’s Historic Homer
Two weeks ago, Matt Olson broke Atlanta’s single-season home run record and on Thursday the lefty slugger lined a home run down the line to break Atlanta’s single-season RBI record. Along with Ronald Acuña becoming the first 40/70 player the night before, it’s been a historic season for a number of Braves. They will look to carry this momentum into the postseason next week.
Oh, No!
Help From a Friend
This popup caused Sean Murphy a bit of trouble, but luckily teammate Austin Riley was there to save the day.
Adapted by Kurt Wasemiller (@KUWasemiller on Twitter / @kurt_player02 on Instagram)