Washington Nationals starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez (27) throws a pitch against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at Petco Park. Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Nationals Aníbal Sánchez shows off 64-MPH floater for strikeout

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 8/18/22

There's that old story about the tortoise and the hare when the tortoise is clearly slower but he's steady, and the hare runs the race as fast as he can but wears himself out, and thus the tortoise wins. Remember that one? That was Nationals pitcher Aníbal Sánchez on Thursday night.

Few things outside of a moonshot home run are more fun in baseball than watching a pitcher reach back and throw hot fire down the center of the plate, leaving the batter waving at the air and shaking his head.

We watch baseball for the long ball and for the high heat, but a well-timed off-speed pitch? You don't see them too often anymore, but when they're deployed they can be devastating.

Cue this clip from Sánchez, who threw the prettiest 64-MPH floater to get himself out of an inning:

A 64 mph strikeout!

Aníbal Sánchez is showing off the floater. pic.twitter.com/nzcZlG2rDr
— MLB (@MLB) August 19, 2022

To truly appreciate this pitch you need to appreciate the context. Sánchez had just given up a 406-foot home run to Manny Machado on an 88-MPH sinker earlier in the inning. He got a ground out to get his second out and then threw two pitches to Josh Bell in the high 80s for strikes one and two looking.

Earlier in the game, Sánchez had hit 90 but the heat clearly wasn't there, so why not slow it way down for a batter who clearly needed to protect the plate on an 0-2 count?

It's that old story. The tortoise wasn't getting the job done, so give the trusty old hare a try and see what happens.

What happened was a filthy pitch and an awesome highlight from the 38-year-old veteran pitcher.

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