Nasty 9: Our newest section of the blog where we make a list of top 9′s for anything in baseball.  The first edition is the top 9 pitches in baseball and what pitcher throws them.  Contribute with who you think has the nastiest pitches.  Without further ado, our list from #9 to #1…

Randy Johnson

9. Felix Hernandez’s Fastball – King Felix with be an ace in Major League Baseball for years to come.  The King throws his fastball around 96 MPH consistently but needs to get a little more accurate with location.  Once that happens he will use his fastball as a strikeout pitch more often.

Hernandez frustrates me; he is only three days older than me and throws about 25 MPH harder than I do.  He is only going to be 23 in a week and still hasn’t fully learned to pitch.  Watch out American League when The King grows more mature as a pitcher.  Already has two, 175 strikeout seasons in three full years in the bigs.

8. Adam Wainwright’s Curveball – Wainwright throws a knee buckling 12-6 curveball, super old school pitch.  Many guys you see today throw a hard sharp breaking pitch, but not Wainwright.  He makes hitters look foolish every time he goes to the mound, just ask Carlos Beltran in the final out of the 2006 NLCS.

*VIDEO HIGHLIGHT: Wainwright K’ing Beltran on YouTube

Wainwright only has 299 Ks in 411 IP for his career but he carries a career ERA of 3.48 so he gets the strikeouts when he needs to.  Also the curve keeps hitters off balance and it plays mind games with them knowing that he can pull the string at anytime.

7. Cole Hamels’ Changeup – Hamels is another guy who takes about 10 MPH off of his 92 MPH fastball to deceive the hitters.  Also like Johan, Hamels is a lefty which gives righties a different look at his changeup which keeps the hitters off balance.  Hamels is a guy who will strike you out but he also forces you to put the ball in play with off-balance swings and his groundball to flyball ratio is almost equal.

At 24 years old Cole Hamels won the World Series MVP in ’08; just a sign of great things to come for this young stud.  He was 1-0 in the WS with a 2.77 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP.  That sounds deserving of an MVP to me.

6. Tim Lincecum’s Fastball – His fastball is consistently 95 MPH and tops out around 98 MPH.  Lincecum has two out pitches, the other being his curve, but his fastball is untouchable when he busts it in on the hands or paints it right on the black.

Last year Lincecum struckout 265 batters in 227 IP while only surrendering 182 hits.  He did surrender 84 walks though so if he can cut that number by 20 he will repeat as the Cy Young winner of the NL this year.  Opponents only hit .221 off of him and I expect that stat to get lower the more years Timmy has under his belt.

5. Francisco Rodriguez’s Slider – I don’t know if it’s Rodriguez’s windup or the actual nastiness of this pitch because he makes hitters look foolish.  His slider is thrown hard and has SHARP break and at the last possible second the ball just falls off the table.  Franky hides this pitch well because it’s thrown at about 88 MPH which makes it appear to be a fastball.

There is a reason why he was donned the nickname K-Rod because that is what he does best.  In 451.2 IP K-Rod has 587 strikeouts to go along with a 2.35 ERA.  He has been a full time closer for four years now and he recorded 45, 47, 40 and a Major League record 62 saves respectively in that span.

4. Roy Halladay’s Sinker – Halladay is a power sinker pitcher.  He has been dominating the American League for the past seven years.  Halladay is a ground ball pitcher and not your typical strikeout pitcher for a guy who is this nasty on his opponents.  Halladay has never been on a good team and it would be nice to see him pitch on a playoff team.

331-191, Halladay’s groundball to flyball ratio in 2008.  Opponents are hitting .255 of Halladay in his career and he only averages just over two walks per contest, his control is second to none.  Again, for someone who was always on a bad team his record is 131-66 which is pretty impressive.

3. Johan Santana’s Changeup – When you consistently throw 92-94 MPH and then your change up it 78-82 you are going to strike some people out.  They say a great change up is 10-12 MPH slower than your fastball but Johan throws his 14 MPH slower most times and it comes out of his hands exactly like his fastball. 

The pitch is nearly unhittable for the two-time Cy Young award winner.  Santana has now racked up five consecutive seasons of 200+ strikeouts and 200+ IP.  Not to mention in his first five years as a starting pitcher he has had an ERA under 3.00 four times.

2. Randy Johnson’s Slider – Randy Johnson used to dial up in the 97-99 MPH range but that has lowered to the 92-94 MPH range due to his age and 21 years in Major League Baseball.  Now picture a 94 MPH fastball with down and in movement that you don’t even see coming.  Yes, it’s that nasty and some may dispute this being only the 2nd best pitch of all time and I couldn’t argue with that.

Randy Johnson has 4,789 strikeouts, 295 wins, 100 complete games, a 3.26 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP.  If that isn’t enough he has won the Cy Young award five times including four in a row at one point from 1999-2002 and came in second in the voting three additional times.  Enough said.

1. Mariano Rivera’s Cutter – Rivera has made a living off of one pitch for his entire Major League career.  ONE PITCH!  Not to mention he is the best closer of all-time and without a doubt the most clutch closer in postseason history (excluding the 2001 World Series vs. the Arizona D-backs).  A cutter is just a fastball that has movement on it and when you throw 95 MPH with sick movement the pitch is going to be tough to hit.  Rivera runs that pitch in on lefties and must crack 25 bats a year.

Rivera holds lefties to a career .207 BA against him; righties aren’t much better batting a measly .218.  Rivera is second all-time in career saves with 482.  Rivera is a 9-time all-star in his 14 year career and has finished in the top five in Cy Young voting five times.  Rivera will definitely go down as the best closer of all time since the position was created in 1969.

*VIDEO HIGHLIGHT: Rivera’s Cutter