Pitching Ninja’s Five Filthiest Pitches: Dodgers’ Dustin May’s electric return

By Rob Friedman, aka “Pitching Ninja”
FOX Sports activities MLB Analyst

In the event you can’t get sufficient of unfair sinkers, lovely curveballs and unhittable sliders, you’ve come to the appropriate place. 

Listed here are my filthiest pitches from the previous week.

1. Dustin Might’s electrical stuff

I can’t lie: I’ve actually missed watching Might pitch. His pure stuff is among the many finest in baseball, with an incredible array of depraved sliders, ridiculous curveballs and fierce, upper-90s two-seamers. 

Might has been recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure and took the mound for the Dodgers this week for the primary time in 475 days. He didn’t disappoint, handing over some of the mind-blowing performances by a beginning pitcher this season. 

Might showcased breaking balls with as much as 3,457 RPMs (highest by a major-league starter this 12 months) and lane-changing two-seamers breaking as much as 20 inches. 

Listed here are some highlights that present simply how robust hitting towards Might is.

2. Jordan Hicks will soften your face off

Hicks has been struggling at occasions this season, however when every part clicks for him, his pitch arsenal is video-game stuff. 

One of many hardest-throwing pitchers of all time, at his finest, Hicks combines 104 mph, dotted two-seamers and foolish sliders to dismantle hitters.

3. Triston McKenzie’s hammers

McKenzie set a profession excessive with 14 strikeouts Friday, most of them on his attractive curveball. It was a tour de power efficiency by McKenzie, who’s a lot enjoyable to look at.

You possibly can see what makes McKenzie’s curveball so robust to hit on this overlay together with his fastball. The pitches begin out in the identical aircraft, after which the curveball free falls to the bottom.

4. Dylan Coleman‘s Frisbee sliders

UFO sliders and a 99 mph fastball are a troublesome mixture for any hitter. 

Right here, Coleman reveals off each. The sliders seem to have two time zones’ value of break. Merely unhittable stuff.

5. Xzavion Curry‘s gorgeous slider

It’s not typically a rookie pitcher makes his debut with one of many filthiest pitches of the week, however Curry completed the feat with this unimaginable slider. 

The superb, sudden drop on this pitch turned Riley Greene right into a pretzel. 

Bonus pitches!

Edward Cabrera is thought for his high-velocity changeups — he set a StatCast document for the quickest changeup for a strikeout earlier this 12 months — however this breaking ball obtained the Juan Soto seal of approval.

The Braves’ Mike Soroka is constant to rehab within the minors and seems to be returning to the shape that made him one among Atlanta’s high pitchers. Check out this turbo sinker, and also you’ll keep in mind what made Soroka such a dominant power. 

In maybe probably the most superb feat of the week, Emmanuel Clase bounced this 92 mph slider to Javy Báez, who by some means not solely made contact with the pitch but additionally hit all of it the way in which to middle discipline! Merely unimaginable.

The sheer amazement on a Little Leaguer’s face whereas watching this bewildering Félix Bautista splitter in the course of the Little League Traditional says all of it. Bautista’s splitter has a greater than 54% whiff fee this season and infrequently leaves hitters with the identical response.

Rob Friedman is a pitching analyst on Twitter and YouTube, and his work has been featured on many Main League Baseball broadcasts.

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