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 and check back this weekend to see if it will be in contention for the GIF of the First Half. Did we miss your favorite pitch? Send us a tweet next time @ThePitcherList and we’ll GIF it up + give you a shoutout here in the article.
Yordano Ventura’s Fastball – The movement Yordano gets on this pitch is absurd. At 96 MPH, this Fastball starts looking like a strike on the outside corner before falling off the table and into the dirt. Absolute filth. (Thanks to Redditor RM_Getaway for the tip!)
Drew Storen’s Slider – Storen has the set-up man role locked down in Toronto, and he looked incredible over the weekend. Just watch this Slider dart out of the strikezone and well off the plate to Mookie Betts. (Thanks to Redditor yung_jocp for the tip!)
Rich Hill’s Curveball – You may be asking for Hill’s deuce to Headley instead, but it was a 3-2 pitch that was improperly called strike three. This pitch, on the other hand, gets the plate for a beautiful backwards K.
Sam Dyson’s Slider – Dyson had himself an incredible inning shutting down the Astro bats, and his Slider was simply on. He had a fun time taking down Carlos Gomez, inducing an amusing flail as he spun this sweet slide piece for strike three. (Thanks to Redditor swissflamdrag for the tip!)
Jerad Eickhoff’s Curveball – Eickhoff has relied on his Curveball often to get through lineups and it looked stellar last night, helping him punch out nine Mets across seven frames. Watch the incredible depth his yacker gets as he struck out David Wright for his final out.
Chris Sale’s Slider – Sale pitched yesterday so obviously we’re going to feature one of his pitches. We actually try not to overload on specific pitchers through the year, but how could we say no to this excellent backdoor slider to Geovany Soto?
Noah Syndergaard’s Fastball – Even though it says 100 MPH on the broadcast, Brooks Baseball has this Fastball listed as 101 MPH. On the black. In the 6th inning. As a Starter. …I have to take a shower.
Jake Arrieta’s Slider – Arrieta had himself quite a night in Cincinnati, earning his second no-hitter in under a year as he blanked the Reds. There were many pitches to choose from, but this Slider to Adam Duvall was too pretty to leave out.
GIF Of The Week
Which was your favorite pitch? Vote below and the winner will be featured in the GIF of the First Half contest.
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