The voting
- 49% - August 8: David Peralta steals home
- 15% - April 29: Chris Owings diving grab
- 15% - August 29: Jake Lamb's go-ahead slam
- 9% - September 28: Peralta puts season to sleep
- 8% - July 9: Paul Goldschmidt walk-off double
- 4% - September 5: Didi Gregorius throw
Falling just shy of a absolute majority, but still getting more than three times the votes of any other candidate, David Peralta's theft of home was a highly-popular, and I think, well-deserved choice for Play of the Year. It succeeds last year's winner, Gerardo Parra's bare-hand force of a runner, and has been added to the 'Pitties roll of honor. Next up will be the award for Single-game Performance of the Year, and nominations for the will open on Tuesday. Meanwhile, let's hear from those who were involved in the Diamondbacks' 2014 Play of the Year, and some of those who watched it and were suitably impressed!
Those involved
"I was waiting for the right time to do it. The catcher was throwing the ball soft to the pitcher, and as soon as I got to third base I was aggressive. They (bench) saw that I was trying to do something. They told me 'Do it. Do it. Don't be afraid.' OK. I'm going to do it... I saw the ball flying and I went right away to home. I knew it was going to be kind of hard for (Brothers) to catch the ball and make a good throw to the catcher and the catcher try to tag me. That is not easy to do real quick."
-- David Peralta
"You could see he was gauging him. He just timed him up. It was just the perfect storm where the pitch was. He (McKenry) just reached over and threw it up. We've talked about it before. He kind of always does it, flips it back. Two outs, worth a try. He executed it perfectly."
-- Kirk Gibson
"Honestly, I messed up. I was focused on keeping the ball in front of me and I was focused on trying to get (the hitter, Jordan Pacheco) out. The ball took me far one way, I gave (Peralta) a quick glance, but I didn't think twice about it. So it's on me. I already apologized to Rex and I feel terrible about it. It's not like me, but we are all human, we all make mistakes. ... I tossed it back without truly paying attention. I can guarantee you that in my whole, entire career, that will never happen again."
-- Rockies catcher, Michael McKenry
Other reactions
"If you've ever played Little League, you've likely seen this play before... Major League Baseball isn't Little League, though, and the best players in the world would definitely prevent such a play from happening. Right? Apparently someone forgot to tell that to Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder David Peralta. In an awesome display of heads-up baseball, Peralta took advantage of a lazy return throw from Colorado Rockies catcher Michael McKenry to literally steal a run from under the noses of the napping Rockies"
-- Darren Hartwell, NESN
"After working his way back through the independent leagues, Peralta has put himself in the conversation for Rookie of the Year by hitting .308/.341/.458 with 4 HR in 211 PA coming into Friday's action. Rather than take the evening off and relax, ya know, maybe catch a movie and grab a bite to eat, Peralta boosted his case by hustling his butt off. After tripling home a run in the bottom of the 7th, Peralta saw that the Rockies weren't paying any attention to him. So like a petulant child, Peralta made sure the Rockies would take notice. I mean, they don't call him David "Action" Peralta for nothing. They don't call him that? Really? Well, guess it's time to start."
-- Michael Clair. MLB.com
"You have to tip your cap and shake your head at the same time. On one hand, Arizona pulled a fast one. You have to applaud Peralta in particular for paying attention to details and playing aggressively when it would be easy to mail these games in. On the other hand, how can a big league club like Colorado allow this to happen? It's unfathomable and inexcusable, but that's kind of become the norm for Colorado over the past two or three seasons. They continually get taken advantage of for being caught off guard or just executing poorly, and this latest one in Arizona may establish a new low point."
-- Mark Townsend, Yahoo
"He might already be turning eyes among baseball fans and experts alike, but Peralta made his way to the highlight reels today when he managed to steal home in unusual fashion... It wasn't the deciding play in the game and the Diamondbacks didn't need the run in the end as they won 5-3, but Peralta's speediness and heads-up baserunning combined with a strong batting performance is extremely impressive from a player who made the switch from the mound to the plate."
-- Zach Berger, SportsGrid