Colorado Rockies: The 3 nastiest pitches we’ve seen from Justin Lawrence

With his unique delivery and triple-digit velocity, there is no question that Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Justin Lawrence has captured the attention of baseball fans around the world.

Based on what we saw in spring training and what we’ve heard about him for years now, we predicted before the season began that Lawrence would make his MLB debut for the Colorado Rockies in 2021. Now, he’s here and he’s making his presence felt.

Let’s look at the three nastiest pitches thrown by Colorado Rockies reliever Justin Lawrence.

Now that he has made two appearances during the series in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, it’s time to take a look at why Pitching Ninja has called him “everyone’s favorite new relief pitcher.” After all, look at the entire package, from getting his signs from the catcher to delivery of the ball to where the ball actually ends up thanks to movement.

Watch the video below. You’ll see the first pitch Lawrence throws in the montage is one of the three nastiest that we’ve seen Lawrence throw so far this season.

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

Let’s face it, that’s just not fair to Eduardo Escobar. The five previous pitches have all been sinkers that between 97.4 and 99.7 mph. Now, Lawrence chooses to finish him off with a slider that seems to start over the middle or inside of the plate and ends up making catcher Dom Nuñez slide almost behind Escobar’s legs to bring it in.

You can see the movement in detail from BaseballSavant.com at this link. Note where the yellow ball starts from delivery and ends up as Escobar tries to make contact.

Lawrence made his MLB debut at Chase Field, which has seen plenty of Rockies firsts through the years. That includes the first-ever at-bat and home run from now-All-Star shortstop Trevor Story.

Speaking of firsts, let’s take a look at the first-ever called strike from Lawrence. After walking Asdrubal Cabrera on four pitches, Pavin Smith stepped into the batter’s box against Lawrence, who delivered his first MLB strike.

What you just saw was a 99.8 mph sinker that stayed right at the bottom of the strike zone. Pavin would single to right on the next pitch, but that would be the last baserunner Lawrence would allow during his first-ever inning on the mound for the Rockies.

After Pavin’s single and getting Wyatt Mathisen to fly out to center for the first out of the inning, Eduardo Escobar stepped to the plate. It would take just three pitches for Lawrence to dismiss Escobar, opening with an 80.6 mph slider, followed by a 100.2 mph sinker and this pitch, a 101.2 mph sinker to Escobar that Lawrence would tell reporters the next day was he believed to be the fastest pitch he has ever thrown.

The look that Escobar has on his face as he walks away from the plate says it all.