This July was a big one for pitchers. Marcus Stroman became a Met, Trevor Bauer perfected the art of long tossing before being traded, and other pitchers are starting to come to full form. Most importantly, some absurd GIFs emerged in July. 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 July 2019.
The best 16 have been pulled aside and ranked. On Tuesday, the field was whittled down to eight. On Wednesday, that number was halved, and we got four. Yesterday, our semis took place, and we got the two nastiest pitches of July. Now it’s on you, the voter, to decide which stands above the rest.
Here are the rules:
- All GIFs were pulled from July 2019 (including the All-Star Game).
- 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. EST the following morning. This is the final round.
Here are the results from Round 1:
American Bracket
1. Oliver Drake’s Splitter defeated 8. Jose Alvarado’s Cutter
2. Jose Berrios’ Curveball defeated 7. Mike Clevinger’s Curveball
3. Adam Ottavino’s Slider defeated 6. Yonny Chirinos‘ Two-Seamer
5. Gerrit Cole’s Fastball defeated 4. Stephen Strasburg’s Fastball
National Bracket
8. Chaz Roe’s Slider 2 defeated 1. Chaz Roe’s Slider 1
2. Walker Buehler’s Two-Seamer defeated 7. Clayton Kershaw’s Curveball
3. Josh Hader’s Slider defeated 6. Kyle Crick’s Slider
4. Charlie Morton’s Curveball defeated 5. Mike Soroka’s Two-Seamer
And here are the results from Round 2:
American Bracket
1. Oliver Drake’s Splitter defeated 5. Gerrit Cole’s Fastball
3. Adam Ottavino’s Slider defeated 2. Jose Berrios’ Curveball
National Bracket
8. Chaz Roe’s Slider 2 defeated 4. Charlie Morton’s Curveball
2. Walker Buehler’s Two-Seamer defeated 3. Josh Hader’s Slider
And here are the semifinal results:
American Bracket
1. Oliver Drake’s Splitter defeated 3. Adam Ottavino’s Slider
National Bracket
8. Chaz Roe’s Slider 2 defeated 2. Walker Buehler’s Two-Seamer
And here is our finals matchup:
1. Oliver Drake’s Splitter vs. 8. Chaz Roe’s Slider 2
Watch the GIFs in the Links Below!
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@freshmeatcomm on Twitter)
Oliver Drake’s Splitter vs. Chaz Roe’s Slider 2
When this tournament began on Tuesday, I mentioned that it featured six different pitches from five different Rays pitchers. So is it any surprise that our finals matchup is a battle of Tampa relievers? Chaz Roe clearly needs no introduction as he’s been a mainstay of this tournament and Nastiest Pitches for a while now. In short, Roe’s slider is otherworldly. But you don’t get brownie points in this tournament for name recognition, you get it for delivering utter filth. And that’s exactly what Oliver Drake does with this pitch that seemingly defies all the laws of physics. If there’s two guys who deserve to be up here, it’s surely these two, but only one can come out on top. So who will it be?
https://gfycat.com/naturalgreathorsemouse-baseball
VS.
https://gfycat.com/farawayimpassionediberianemeraldlizard-baseball
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10381786]