by Cary Osborne
Only in baseball, can these be compliments: filthy, nasty, yuck, disgusting, 🤮 🤮 🤮.
They’ve become universal descriptors for stunning pitches. And these are some of the most impressive thrown by Dodgers in 2024.
How does one choose from the 25,969 pitches thrown by the Dodgers in the regular season and postseason combined?
The below are all strikes. Some produced swords (incomplete and ugly swings). Some were of the triple-digit variety. Some combined filth with a big situation. Others had incredible movement and characteristics. And then one at the bottom is tongue-in-cheek.
Here we let it rip.
Public Enemy №1, Year 17.
Clayton Kershaw unravels a curveball to St. Louis’ Willson Contreras on Aug. 18 that produces a sword and leads Cardinals’ broadcaster Chip Carey to say: “Contreras fooled badly there — wow.” The 71 inches of downward movement was the biggest drop for any Dodger pitch that produced a sword in 2024.
A Trio from Treinen
Throughout Blake Treinen’s time with the Dodgers, he has mesmerized the baseball world with his incredible movement. Here are three examples. This one starts in the zone and makes a sudden turn midway, ultimately landing at Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz’s back foot on May 19.
This one starts letter high with the appearance that it will land in the heart of the plate, then collapses and moves in at the last millisecond on San Diego’s Jurickson Profar on May 10.
This was one of the biggest pitches of the World Series. Runners on first and second, two outs and the Dodgers leading 7–6 in Game 5 of the World Series. Treinen is ahead on Anthony Rizzo 1–2. This was Treinen’s 42nd pitch of the game. The pitch again seems destined for middle-middle of the plate, then drops and fades into Rizzo, who swings and misses. The slider has 21 inches of glove-side movement — the most of any Dodger postseason strikeout.
Phillips’ Big Slider
The Dodgers are clinging to an 8–7 lead against the Cubs on Sept. 11, when Evan Phillips unravels this pitch with late bite. The 17 inches of glove-side movement and tight spin gets Ian Happ to throw out a sword and strike out to end the inning. The Dodgers end up winning 10–8.
A Change of Seasons for Stone
The word on Gavin Stone before he came up to the big leagues in 2023 is look out for that changeup. In his breakout 2024, opponents hit .178 against the pitch and whiffed on 37.2% of swings taken against the pitch. Here’s a nasty example of that, where Stone’s two-strike changeup with arm-side face gets Philadelphia’s Bryson Stott chopping and missing.
Kopech Brings the Heat
Michael Kopech’s average fastball velocity put him in the 98th percentile in 2024. He threw the fastest pitch by a Dodger this season at 102.6 mph on Aug. 16 against St. Louis’ Victor Scott II. But this fastball was more of a thing of beauty — mostly because it produced a strikeout. But second, check out the movement and location. Tampa Bay’s Josh Lowe had little chance on Aug. 23.
Game 5 of the NL Division Series against the Padres, eighth inning, two outs, 0–2 count to Jake Cronenworth. The Dodgers lead 2–0. Kopech dials it up to 102 mph to get the K. The rest is history.
The Bazooka
Brusdar Graterol’s body (and even his hair) is drifting right as he releases this 2–2 sinker to Giancarlo Stanton in the seventh inning of Game 1 of the World Series. But the pitch zooms left, giving the appearance that it’s going to miss outside, then breaks back into the strike zone. Stanton strikes out on the 99-mph pitch.
Two-Way Player
We know the fastest pitch of the year that earned a strike. How about the slowest? Miguel Rojas dials it down to 41.5 mph to earn a called strike on Atlanta’ Michael Harris II on this Sept. 14 eephus pitch. The Dodgers were losing 10–1 at the time in the seventh inning. Rojas’ presence meant the white flag. Kiké Hernández pitched the eighth inning. The duo combined to make 23 pitches. Their average pitch velocity was 50.0 mph. The Braves went 1-for-7 against the duo.
10 of the nastiest Dodger pitches in 2024 was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.