2014 AZ SnakePit Awards: Performance of the Year nominations

How this works

Here is the complete list of winners since we started these in 2006. We'll be running one category a week for the next seven weeks, which should take us into the first week of February, when it'll almost be time for pitchers and catchers to report! So, that's nice. Here is the schedule:

• Week 1: Play of the Year - winner, David Peralta steals home
• Week 2: Single-game Performance of the Year
• Week 3: Game of the Year
• Week 4: Rookie of the Year
• Week 5: Unsung Hero
• Week 6: Pitcher of the Year
• Week 7: Most Valuable Player

For each, the pattern will be the same. [We've slightly adjusted the schedule for procedural reasons] Monday will be an open call for nominations - I'll offer some suggestions to get you going, but these are not etched in stone. So feel free to offer any suggestions in the comments - the number of "recs" received by suggestions will be a major factor in deciding which, if any, make the final list of nominees. That will then be posted on Wednsday morning, with accompanying video as appropriate. There will then be a two-day window for voting, with the winner being anointed on Friday morning. Rinse, repeat the following week, for the next category.

Performance of the Year nominations

Pitching

There us one very obvious candidate: Josh Collmenter's 27-out start against the Reds on May 29, that may well make this category close to a foregone conclusion. But below this, it may be a lot harder to select a second and third choice, for there are quite a number of others that deserve consideration. These three all have the same Game Score of 81, for example, tied for second-best on the season below Collmenter's gem [links go to the box score]

• Brandon McCarthy, eight innings of two-hit ball vs. Nationals
• Josh Collmenter, 8.1 innings, one unearned run vs. Padres
• Vidal Nuno, eight innings of two-hit ball vs. Rockies

There are also other contenders worth mentioning. Nuno had another start, pitching seven shutout innings against the Marlins on July 8th, which led all starts with a +47.0% Win Probability - of course, he didn't get the win, as Addison Reed took the loss with a two-run ninth. Or what about Bronson Arroyo's start on June 10 at Chase, facing the Astros? Seven innings of one-run ball is not to be sneezed at - especially when he was pitching with a completely torn UCL. And we should also acknowledge Oliver Perez's four-strikeout inning on September 20, the first such ever in Diamondbacks history.

Hitting

There are a couple of different ways you can look at this one. By total bases, the clear winner is Paul Goldschmidt's performance in the Kershaw Woodchipper Massacre on May 17. He went 4-for-5 with two home-runs, a pair of doubles and six RBI. The 12 total bases was three more than anyone else had for the D-backs in 2014, and the six runs driven in tied with Miguel Montero on June 4 for a season high. Indeed, that game vs. LA had three of the top four total base tallies for the year., with A.J. Pollock and Chris Owings each getting nine; Owings also had nine on June 3 against the Rockies.

However, Goldie's game was only worth +10% of Win Probability, much of his damage coming during the blowout portion of the night's proceedings. The clear winner there was Tony Campana, who had a four-hit game and also stole a base on April 10 vs. San Francisco, which piled him up a whopping +72.2% of Win Probability, even though he didn't score and only had one RBI. But he was responsible for tying the game with two outs in the eighth, then driving in the go-ahead run in the tenth. Three other batters also enjoyed days worth more than +50% for Arizona this season: Montero (July 22 vs. DET), Martin Prado (April 30 vs. COL) and Aaron Hill (April 23 vs. CHC)

From what I can see, I think we have two obvious candidates, one on each side of the dugout, in Collmenter and Goldschmidt - but who should get the other three spots? Place your thoughts in the comments. Because, don't forget, it's an honor simply to be nominated. :)