Cleveland Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer was spectacular in Thursday night's game against the Houston Astros, as he tossed eight innings and allowed just one run on four hits. It didn't all come easy for Bauer, who was up against the loaded lineup of the Astros, but the right-hander has a great equalizer in his arsenal, his nasty slider. He didn't shut down his archenemy Alex Bregman with it, but take a look at this slo-mo version of his slider against Yuli Gurriel.
For the longest time, Bauer's slider looks like a fastball but then takes a hard left turn away from right-handed hitters. To make my point, look at this slider overlayed with a fastball against Atlanta's Josh Donaldson last week:
If you can't tell by watching, Bauer has one of the best spin rates on his slider. That pitch seems downright impossible to hit, and I'd hate to be up against it in the batter's box.