Nastiest Pitches in MLB History
Mariano Rivera’s Cutter
More from MLB History
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 5 MLB players who are human cheat codes for Immaculate Grid
- Good MLB players in different uniforms: A look at a random year and two random teams
- Sticky fingers: The pine tar incident, New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals and Gaylord Perry
- Chicago Cubs scoring 36 runs in two games? That’s nothing compared to this historic mark
Perhaps the most famous singular pitch ever, Mariano Rivera’s cutter is one of baseball legend. According to the story, Mariano discovered his signature pitch by accident during the 1997 season. During warm-ups one day, Rivera noticed his fastball was moving uncontrollably. For a month, he struggled to control his fastball, until he decided to embrace the movement and develop his legendary cutter.
Crediting the discovery of his cutter to divine intervention, Rivera transformed into the best closer of all time. The movement on his cutter was devastating. It cut away from the batter so late and sharply that they had little time to react. But beyond the movement, Mariano obtained masterful control of his signature pitch. Thus, it did not matter if you were a righty or lefty, Mariano could force you to make weak contact or break your bat. From 1997 until his retirement in 2013, Rivera owned the lowest Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) among all pitchers with a .260 mark.
Mariano’s cutter built one of the most fascinating career resumes of anybody to ever play the game. In the regular season, Rivera was a 13x All-Star, 5x Reliever of the Year, and the all-time saves leader (652). In the postseason, Rivera’s numbers are simply outstanding. He is the all-time leader in postseason ERA (0.70), saves (42), and World Series MVP, and 5x champion as the Yankees’ closer.
Rivera and his legendary cutter were rewarded for their career accomplishments in 2019, becoming the first unanimously elected player into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mariano’s cutter will go down as one of the most un-hittable single pitches in baseball history. The bigger the stage, worse it got for opposing hitters. By the time they heard “Enter Sandman” at Yankee Stadium, it was already goodnight.