Pitching Ninja’s Five Filthiest Pitches: Cionel Perez’s fastball is wow-inducing

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

The Field of Dreams Game is a time when we celebrate our shared love of baseball. 

Well, every week, I celebrate my love of pitching right here, breaking down the week’s filthiest pitches … and here are those pitches!

1. Cionel Pérez’s incredible two-seamer

The Orioles‘ bullpen has been lights-out, and it’s one of the big reasons for the team being in playoff contention this season. It seems that a different pitcher from the bullpen shines every game.  

This unfair, 98 mph, two-seam fastball from Pérez was so amazing that if you look closely, you can see the hitter, David Peralta, say “wow” after swinging and missing at it.

Plus, you know a pitch is special when the TV broadcast team puts out a Pitching Ninja Alert! 

2. Corbin Burnes‘ perfect back-door cutter

Defending NL Cy Young Winner Burnes’ back-door cutter won my prettiest pitch in baseball award last year. It’s a unique pitch, and it takes guts to throw (if you make a mistake, the cutter can run over the plate and get hammered), but if executed just right, it’s pure art.

I don’t know if you can throw a back-door cutter any better than this one. In fact, if you walked up to the plate and placed the ball wherever you wanted to, you still couldn’t do any better than this. 

This might literally be the perfect back-door cutter, and it should be hung in the Louvre.

Also, here’s Burnes talking with me about the cutter and the work that went into developing this pitch.

3. Jacob deGrom‘s amazing fastball and slider overlay

No matter what team you’re a fan of, there’s one thing most pitching fans can agree on: Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher on the planet.

Interestingly, deGrom is mostly a two-pitch pitcher. He does also throw a changeup and a curveball, but 93.3% of the time, he throws a fastball or a slider. To be the greatest pitcher in the game and rely on only two pitches, those two pitches must be almost flawless. And in deGrom’s case, they are nearly perfect.

Here’s an overlay of deGrom’s 97 mph “get me over” fastball (not his fastest fastball, but it’s perfectly placed) and filthy 94 mph slider. This overlay shows how deGrom can be so dominant with just two pitches. They look identical the entire way to the plate and separate just as the hitter is about to swing. That’s why hitting against deGrom is the greatest challenge in the game today.

What’s even more unfair is that Edwin Díaz, the Mets’ dominant closer, can do the same thing! The combo of deGrom and Díaz is the ultimate nightmare for hitters.

4. The Human Glitch adding injury to insult with his curveball

I nicknamed Jimmy Herget the “Human Glitch” because he has a very unusual throwing motion and throws pitches with ridiculous movement. It’s embarrassing enough as a hitter when you take a bad swing at a pitch and strike out. But swinging at a pitch that hits you and striking out is outright humiliating!  

Here, the Human Glitch’s curveball has a downright ignominious result for Skye Bolt of the A’s.

5. Camilo Doval‘s overpowering, 103 mph fastball

Doval always throws pure diesel, but this one was special, even for him.  

According to Codify Baseball, this 103 mph heater was the fastest game-ending pitch to get a save in the National League since an Aroldis Chapman pitch in 2016.

BONUS PITCHES!

Nestor Cortes and his bag of tricks

Cortes might not have the best pure stuff of any pitcher, but he has turned himself into one of the best pitchers in the American League with his magnificent creativity. He’s so much fun to watch.

In this three-pitch strikeout against Jarred Kelenic, Cortes used different arm angles on all three of the pitches. Here’s an overlay of all three so you can see what a hitter must contend with against Cortes. Incredible stuff! 

Cortes is also a master at messing with a hitter’s timing. He had these two different windups on consecutive pitches, and I put them side by side so you can see how tough that would be to hit against.

By using his arm angles and mechanics as weapons, in addition to his diverse pitch arsenal, Cortes creates almost an infinite combination for hitters to try to prepare for.

The Griffeys: Hey, Dad, you wanna have a catch?

This might not technically be a pitch, but I make the rules here! 

The Griffeys reenacting the final scene from “Field of Dreams” at the Field of Dreams Game last week was undoubtedly the best baseball moment of the week. 

As Terence Mann said: “The one constant through all the years … has been baseball. … It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again.”

Jaida Lee: In a league of her own

Lastly, I’d like to give a well-earned shout-out to 16-year-old Jaida Lee, who became the first female pitcher to pitch in the Canada Games.  

Here she is taking on the boys and showing that all that fielding practice pays off!

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