This September was a big one for pitchers. Justin Verlander threw his third career no-no and hit 3,000 strikeouts for his career; his teammate Gerrit Cole also finished the year above 300 strikeouts and ended with the highest K/9 in a season in the history of the game; and other pitchers are starting to come to full form. Most importantly, some absurd GIFs emerged in September. 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 September 2019.
The best 16 have been pulled aside and ranked. Now it’s on you, the voter, to decide which stands above the rest.
Here are the rules:
- All GIFs were pulled from September 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 first round.
Here are the matchups for Round 1:
American Bracket
1. Brad Wieck’s Curveball vs. 8. Jason Adam’s Curveball
2. Brusdar Graterol’s Sinker vs. 7. Sandy Alcantara’s Sinker
3. Jose Berrios’ Curveball vs. 6. Justin Verlander’s Fastball
4. Gerrit Cole’s Fastball vs. 5. Gerrit Cole’s Slider
National Bracket
1. Yu Darvish’s Slider vs. 8. Josh Hader’s Slider
2. Rich Hill’s Curveball vs. 7. Stephen Strasburg’s Changeup
3. Chaz Roe’s Slider vs. 6. Anthony Kay’s Curveball
4. Trevor Bauer’s Two-Seamer vs. 5. Max Fried’s Curveball
Watch the GIFs in the Links Below!
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@freshmeatcomm on Twitter)
Brad Wieck’s Curveball vs. Jason Adam’s Curveball
Brad Wieck might not be the name you’d expect to headline our bracket, but Wieck certainly deserved it. In his Nastiest Pitches feature, he received more than 70% of the vote, and he certainly earned it considering how amazing this pitch is. It starts out running at Kyle Seager‘s head, and Seager is is forced to duck as the pitch drops right over the center of the plate for a gorgeous strike three. But maybe we’re completely wrong about this pitch, and Jason Adam will defeat Wieck with a curveball of his own, which also gets an opposing hitter looking as he paints the corner with grace.
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10420277]
Brusdar Graterol’s Sinker vs. Sandy Alcantara’s Sinker
Our 2 vs. 7 matchup features two fantastic sinkers courtesy of two pitchers with whom you may not be all that familiar. You’re probably more familiar with our 7 seed, Sandy Alcantara, whose sinker zips in and then out of the zone to induce a strikeout from Mike Montgomery. But Brusdar Graterol is a true no-name. That is, at least until he came up this month and showed off this furious sinker. Graterol ended up pitching nine innings in September, and his fastball was deadly. It can be seen here freezing Yasiel Puig for a 101 mph strike three called. That, my friends, is an unhittable pitch.
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10420279]
Jose Berrios’ Curveball vs. Justin Verlander’s Fastball
Jose Berrios’ curveball is kind of unfair. Scratch that, it’s actually very unfair. It comes in toward the batter at a decent mid-80s velocity and gets some absolutely wicked movement that most pitchers just can’t create. But Justin Verlander does something similar with his fastball. JV throws heat, and opposing hitters have serious trouble hitting the pitch. Here, Rowdy Tellez looks as out number 22 of 27 goes past him in Verlander’s no-hitter earlier this month.
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10420281]
Gerrit Cole’s Fastball vs. Gerrit Cole’s Slider
Our 4 vs. 5 matchup pits perhaps the two best pitchers in baseball against each other. We’ve got Gerrit Cole facing Gerrit Cole. Cole’s season was like no other we’ve seen, EVER. He finished off with the highest K/9 in league history, thanks to his fastball and slider, which are both dominant pitches. So do you prefer Cole’s dart of a heater or his slider that gets opposing hitters falling in the batter’s box?
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10420283]
Yu Darvish’s Slider vs. Josh Hader’s Slider
Our second No. 1 seed is Yu Darvish, whose slider gets a ridiculous amount of horizontal movement as it runs out of the zone and absolutely fools the opposing hitter. The offering gets some serious sweeping movement that makes it completely unhittable. So it’ll be tough for Josh Hader and his filthy back-foot slider to pull off the upset. But maybe Hader will take over 50% and topple our 1 seed.
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10420286]
Rich Hill’s Curveball vs. Stephen Strasburg’s Changeup
Rich Hill spent most of this season riding the injured list, but he returned this September and it seems that nothing has changed. His curveball is as filthy as ever, and this one right here is the best one we’ve seen from him. It begins in the outer batter’s box but somehow runs just across the outside corner to get a swing and miss from Jonathan Villar. His competition this round is a filthy offspeed delivery from Stephen Strasburg that drops out on Andrew Knapp. Although Stras is a clear underdog in this matchup, it’ll be interesting to see if he can pull off the upset and eliminate Hill.
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10420293]
Chaz Roe’s Slider vs. Anthony Kay’s Curveball
This might just be the weakest Chaz Roe pitch we’ve ever featured in one of these tournaments. That doesn’t really mean much though because even though it’s his worst, his worst is pretty dang good. Just watch as Roe whips a slider across the plate to the back foot of Dwight Smith Jr. It’s pure bliss to watch, and one certainly could watch it over and over again. So Roe’s competition is facing an uphill battle. Anthony Kay‘s curveball bends across the inside part of the plate for a gorgeous strike three. But the question remains: Is Kay’s curve good enough for the rookie call up to take down a giant?
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10420294]
Trevor Bauer’s Two-Seamer vs. Max Fried’s Curveball
Our final matchup this round is a 4 vs. 5 matchup that features Trevor Bauer going up against Max Fried. First off, let’s talk Bauer. His two-seamer gets some disgusting running action across and out of the zone to induce a strike three from Ildemaro Vargas. Fried, on the other hand, uses a sweeping curveball that drops out on Bryce Harper and gets the $330 million man swinging on strikes. This is going to be a close one folks. I can certainly feel it.
VS.
Which was the better pitch? Vote to decide which pitch advances to the next round!
[polldaddy poll=10420296]
Just out of curiosity, do you consider Sept 1st’s write-up for contention? To clarify, does the pitch have to be THROWN in September, or is the criteria that it has to show up in September’s posts and that it could actually be from an August game?
I know this is useless minutiae, but there’s a lot less baseball to pay attention to and my mind is wandering to some less-than-important places, lol.
Hey Doug! Pitches are taken from the previous month. We don’t put pitches from August 31st into September’s tournament if that’s what you’re asking. Those are pulled and put into August’s tournament.