The Objectively Most Glorious Pitches of the Week

Recently, the author introduced a nearly reasonable methodology for identifying the most glorious baseball pitches over any given interval of games. What follows is that same methodology applied to every relevant pitch since last Friday. Click here for more information on the definition of break. Click here for previous editions of the same exercise.

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Fastball
Pitcher: Justin Masterson, RHP, Cleveland (Profile)
Batter: Tyler Flowers   Date: Tuesday, May 27th
Velocity: 92.9 mph   Break: 9.6 in.

Footage:

More Different Footage:

According to data at the present site, only one qualified starter (Bartolo Colon) throws some version of a fastball more frequently than Justin Masterson. Also, no pitch classified as a sinker by PITCHf/x demonstrates such substantial vertical movement as Masterson’s. What one finds here isn’t particularly surprising, then — which is to say, Justin Masterson (first) throwing a sinker and (second) throwing a sinker with substantial vertical movement.

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Breaking Ball
Pitcher: David Robertson, RHP, New York AL (Profile)
Batter: Matt Adams   Date: Wednesday, May 28th
Velocity: 82.9 mph   Break: 13.5 in.

Footage:

More Different Footage:

Robertson is different from teammate Dellin Betances in the sense that he (i.e. Robertson) is shaped mostly like a regular-sized person while Betances bears a resemblance only to the more physically imposing offensive tackles of gridiron football. What they share, however, is the capacity to throw excellent curveballs. Betances was recognized for one of his two weeks ago in this same column; Robertson, in the present edition.

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Offspeed Pitch
Pitcher: Alex Cobb, RHP, Tampa Bay (Profile)
Batter: Brett Lawrie   Date: Tuesday, May 27th
Velocity: 87.2 mph   Break: 10.0 in.

Footage:

More Different Footage:

The author has been forced to make a slow-motion GIF by hand, as it were, of this excellent changeup by Alex Cobb because (a) the pitch depicted here was the last one of the relevant inning and (b) opposing Blue Jays hitters recorded two home runs in that same inning — which pair of home runs, and not this strikeout, were celebrated by means of instant replay just before the commercial break. Does the changeup possess any less glory for having occurred under less than ideal circumstances? Indeed, philosophers have debated this very matter for 2500 years.

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Weekly Leaderboard
Here are the top-10 pitches since last Friday by the largely arbitrary criteria selected by the author. Note that certain pitches might have been excluded due to reasonable suspicions concerning the accuracy of the relevant stadium’s PITCHf/x calibration

#	Name	Date	Inn	T/B	Opp	Pitch	Vel	Brk	zVel	zBrk	Score
1	Justin Masterson	5/27	2	B	Tyler Flowers	SI	92.9	9.6	1.1	0.6	0.9
2	Brandon League	5/28	8	T	Devin Mesoraco	SI	94.9	8.2	1.5	0.2	0.8
3	Luis Avilan	5/25	9	T	Carlos Gonzalez	FT	95.4	7.9	1.5	0.1	0.8
4	Charlie Morton	5/28	2	B	Bartolo Colon	FT	91.7	9.4	0.9	0.5	0.7
5	Carlos Martinez	5/24	7	B	Chris Heisey	FT	96.9	6.0	1.8	-0.5	0.6
6	Zach Duke	5/24	8	B	Marcell Ozuna	FT	91.0	9.2	0.8	0.5	0.6
7	David Robertson	5/28	9	B	Matt Adams	KC	82.9	13.5	-0.6	1.8	0.6
8	Wily Peralta	5/24	5	B	Giancarlo Stanton	FT	96.6	6.0	1.7	-0.5	0.6
9	David Robertson	5/23	8	B	Conor Gillaspie	KC	84.1	12.7	-0.4	1.6	0.6
10	Dellin Betances	5/23	6	B	Conor Gillaspie	KC	85.0	12.1	-0.2	1.4	0.6