AZ SnakePit Awards: Play of the Year (Battery division)

May 11: Jeff Mathis “knee”-ds little help to end game vs. PIT

The Fernando Rodney Experience was under way at Chase Field: With two outs in the ninth, the tying run was on first base. On a 1-1 pitch from Rodney, the runner took off, and the slow delivery from our closer forced his battery-mate to throw from his knees down to Brandon Drury at second. But you’d be hard-pushed to find a more perfect throw, reaching the fielder on the fly and in the exact spot which allowed Drury simply to drop his glove down on the runner. It was close enough to merit a review by the umpires, but the initial call of out was upheld, and rather than the tying run in scoring position, Mathis’s throw ended the game for an Arizona W.

May 26: Chris Iannetta and Zack Godley are effectively wild vs. MIL

The bottom of the sixth inning in Milwaukee, and Arizona were one run up, but the home team had men on the corners with two outs. Godley throws up a curveball that didn’t even reach the plate, then caroms off Iannetta’s chest. Marcus Thames, the runner on third attempts to scurry home, but both pitcher and catcher know their jobs, and execute them perfectly. Iannetta scurries over and executes a perfect shovel pass in front of the covering Godley, who drops a tag on Thames just in time to beat the headfirst slide. The umpire’s decision withstood a challenge from Brewers’ manager Craig Counsell, and Godley completed his sixth scoreless inning.

June 11: Jorge De La Rosa damns the Thames vs. MIL

It’s Thames again! This one’s all on the pitcher, with De La Rosa coming into the game with two outs in the seventh, and the Diamondbacks clinging desperately to a 1-0 lead. He only had to face Eric Thames with the bags full of Brewers, after Robbie Ray and J.J. Hoover had walked the bases loaded. The hitter had already hit 16 home-runs to that point in the season, and had a .984 OPS to that point. Three pitches later, Thames was carrying his bat back to the dugout, De La Rosa carving him with a called strike one, a foul for strike two and then this glorious swinging strike three. At +14.1%, it was the highest one-out WP appearance of the year for Arizona, by a clear five percent.

June 24: Chris Hermann terminates two runs vs. PHI

Arizona had a four-run lead in the seventh, but Philadelphia had loaded the bases with one out, so had the tying run at the plate. A 2-0 pitch was chopped to Jake Lamb at third, who came home for the force. But as has been Lamb’s issue, the throw was off-line. Herrmann dived out full-length, not only managing to glove the ball, but also somehow managing to keep his toe on home-plate. With nobody - certainly not pitcher Archie Bradley! - apparently covering behind the catcher, if the ball had gone past Herrmann, it would very likely have allowed two runs to score, and put the tying run in scoring position.

August 19: Zack Greinke starts a double-play vs. MIN

There are plenty of good reasons why Zack has won the Gold Glove at the pitcher’s spot, in each of the last four seasons. This play is a perfect example. Note, for example, how Greinke finishes delivering the pitch, and is already in good fielding position - contrast, for example, the team’s other ZG, who seems to end up facing the opposing dugout half the time. Thus, when the ball is chopped back over his head, Greinke is able to leap up in the air and corral the ball. He then doesn’t panic, and there’s no wild throw, instead, a well-measured toss over to second, leading Ketel Marte, who can then throw to Paul Goldschmidt. But it all began with Greinke.