This August was a big one for pitchers. Aaron Sanchez tossed six frames in a combined no-no in his first start for Houston, Gerrit Cole and Chris Sale kept up their ludicrous strikeout rates, and other pitchers are starting to come to full form. Most importantly, some absurd GIFs emerged in August. So ridiculous that the list of honorable mentions from this month probably would have made most other tournaments in the past. Now it’s time to crown the best pitching GIF of them all from August 2019.
The best 16 have been pulled aside and ranked. On Tuesday, that number, was halved and brought us down to eight. Yesterday, the field was whittled down to our final four. Now it’s on you, the voter, to decide which stands above the rest.
Here are the rules:
- All GIFs were pulled from August 2019.
- You can only vote on a matchup once, so make sure you pick the one you absolutely want.
- Voting will continue until 12:00 a.m. EDT the following morning. This is the second round.
Here are the results for Round 1:
American Bracket
1. Chaz Roe’s Slider defeated 8. Zack Wheeler’s Changeup
2. Charlie Morton’s Curveball defeated 7. Adrian Houser’s Two-Seamer
3. Hyun-Jin Ryu’s Curveball defeated 6. Yu Darvish’s Curveball
5. Chris Sale’s Slider defeated 4. Dustin May’s Sinker
National Bracket
1. Walker Buehler’s Curveball defeated 8. Brendan McKay’s Curveball
7. Stephen Strasburg’s Curveball defeated 2. Gerrit Cole’s Curveball
6. Sonny Gray’s Slider defeated 3. Trevor Bauer’s Two-Seamer
5. Joe Ross‘ Sinker defeated 4. Kirby Yates‘ Splitter
And here are the Round 2 results:
American Bracket
1. Chaz Roe’s Slider defeated 5. Chris Sale’s Slider
3. Hyun-Jin Ryu’s Curveball defeated 2. Charlie Morton’s Curveball
National Bracket
5. Joe Ross‘ Sinker defeated 1. Walker Buehler’s Curveball
6. Sonny Gray’s Slider defeated 7. Stephen Strasburg’s Curveball
And here are the semifinal matchups:
American Bracket
1. Chaz Roe’s Slider vs. 3. Hyun-Jin Ryu’s Curveball
National Bracket
5. Joe Ross‘ Sinker vs. 6. Sonny Gray’s Slider
Watch the GIFs in the Links Below!
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@freshmeatcomm on Twitter)
Chaz Roe’s Slider vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu’s Curveball
For our first semifinal matchup, we’ve got Chaz Roe’s nasty slider that runs in on Eric Hosmer going up against Hyun-Jin Ryu and his absolutely disgusting front-door curveball. Both of these pitches work extremely well but move in opposite directions against lefty hitters. So this one is going to come down to whether you prefer freezing opposing southpaws with vicious curveballs or jamming lefties on offerings that at first look good but then run inside.
https://gfycat.com/fairwaryindianpalmsquirrel-chaz-roe-sl-8-14-19-baseball
VS.
https://gfycat.com/lankyimportantfrilledlizard-baseball
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10401419]
Joe Ross‘ Sinker vs. Sonny Gray’s Slider
I have to admit: I did not expect either of these pitches to get this far in the tournament. But the vote is in, and people really loved Joe Ross‘ sinker and Sonny Gray’s slider. And with the advantage of hindsight, it’s easy to see why. I mean, look at how Ross finesses this powerful sinker. And Gray just throws one right by Austin Riley on this fantastic slider. But now, only one can move on to the finals. So who will it be?
https://gfycat.com/understatedimpassionedcaracal-joe-ross-si-8-14-19-baseball
VS.
https://gfycat.com/splendidannualdanishswedishfarmdog-sonny-gray-sl-8-4-19-baseball
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10401421]