Rays' Oliver Drake drives internet wild by throwing just another nasty pitch

Tom Gatto

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Rays' Oliver Drake drives internet wild by throwing just another nasty pitch image

Rays reliever Oliver Drake became internet famous Saturday after he struck out the White Sox's Leury Garcia on a nasty split changeup.

People couldn't comprehend the pitch's lateral movement across the plate. 

Maybe the extreme overhand release had something to do with that.

Not sure why that particular pitch would have left people dumbfounded, though. Drake broke off something unhittable, but you don't have to look far and wide to uncover other major league pitches that dart and dive as much as, if not more than, Drake's delivery.

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Heck, there are three solid examples from just the past week (via Pitching Ninja): 

Cubs right-hander Pedro Strop:

Braves right-hander Mike Soroka:

Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg:

Then there's the pitch that really was devil magic: the high-90s two-seamer thrown by Drake's teammate Jose Alvarado early in the season:

Good luck explaining that one.

Hey, bravo to Mr. Drake for finding something that works so well, but let's remember that a lot of other pitches are pretty nasty, too.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.