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Baseball's Nastiest Pitches
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Cut Fastball
Mariano Rivera
You know it's coming, but you still can't hit it. Like Sutter before him, Rivera closes games relying almost completely on his out pitch. Rivera's cutter breaks so hard to the left that it routinely breaks the bats of left-handed hitters. Some managers have gone to the extreme of using only right-handed pinch-hitters to bat against the right-handed Rivera.
Photo: John Iacono/SI
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