2019 SnakePit Awards: Performance of the Year nominations open

Before we get to that, however, congratulations to Nick Ahmed, whose diving stop and throw out against the Phillies was voted Play of the Year, getting 30% of the vote. That has now officially been enshrined in the SnakePit Hall of Awards.

We now move on to the more regularly-scheduled categories, by which I mean we’ll be hitting a rhythm with these over the coming weeks. On Monday, we’ll have a preliminary list of candidates, with an open call for discussion and other potential candidates. On Wednesday, these will be narrowed down to a final five (or thereabout), with a poll to decide the winner. This will then be announced on the Friday. Some of these categories are likely to be little more than a procession towards an obvious final winner. Others... Not so much. So you should take your chance to have your say. Because I will have zero tolerance for post-award whining from anybody!

This is the Single Game Performance category, which includes both hitting and pitching. Below, you’ll find brief details of a number of potential candidates, based on metrics of various kinds. They are in chronological order:

• Zack Greinke: April 2 vs. SDP - 2-for-4, two HR, 4 RBI, six IP, 3 ER, 10 K, 0 BB, W
• Merrill Kelly: April 7 vs. BOS - 8 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO
• Jon Duplantier: April 28 vs. CHC - +57.6% WP, 4 IP. 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
• T.J. McFarland: May 8 @ TBR - +39.1% WP, inherits and escapes bases-loaded one out jam
• Eduardo Escobar: June 10 @ PHI - 11 total bases, 4-for-5, two HR, three R, five RBI
• Eduardo Escobar: August 3 vs. WSN - seven RBI, 10 total bases, 3-for-5, two HR, two R, BB
• Alex Young: September 7 @ CIN - Game Score 89, 8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 12 SO, W
• Christian Walker: September 28 vs. SDP - +71.2% WP, 2-for-3, two HR, five RBI, BB

There’s an eight-pack of potential candidates for you. Three hitting, four pitching, and one which was a bit of both. Typically, the final five have been two hitting, two starting pitching and one relief appearance, for the sake of representation. But I’m open to hearing arguments, especially given the Greinke game. I’m also open to other suggestions for candidates. Place your nominees in the comments, and recs will be taken into account when the judging committee makes its final selection!