GIF-imaufry: Five Clayton Kershaw Sliders
The attentive reader will notice that yesterday, at mission control, I wrote a love letter to Clayton Kershaw and his newfound command.
Please believe me, reader, when I say that said piece does not represent the last of the electronic ink I’ll be spilling on Kershaw and/or his Ample Talent.
In fact, in what I’m calling GIF-imaufry (in homage to our white-bearded forebears), I present this: five sliders, from Clayton Kershaw’s hand to your eyes.
All five of the GIFs you see here are from Kershaw’s 12-strikeout performance against the Giants on July 20th. They all contain footage of Kershaw inducing a swing and miss on a slider. (Per Brooks Baseball, Kershaw got whiffs on six sliders. I didn’t find the sixth one. Che to the sarà, is my thought on that matter.)
Otherwise, um, here:
1. Cody Ross, Bottom 1st:
2. Brandon Belt, Bottom 2nd:
3. Mike Fontenot, Bottom 6th:
4. Aaron Rowand, Bottom 6th:
5. Cody Ross (again), Bottom 6th*:
*Note how Kershaw causes time to stop momentarily just as he’s about to release the ball. Let’s see your Pitch F/x analysis of that, Dave Allen.
I don’t like this post. I think it should be removed from the website.
You don’t own Fangraphs Brisbee!
*comment only counts if that is Brisbee.
I love Kershaw, but is striking out 6 Giants really that much of an accomplishment? Now, 26… well even that should be expected.
He DID do it against an Adam Dunn-less lineup. That adds a little difficulty.
Good lord. That slider breaks almost immediately out of his hand…and never stops breaking.
If you put that first GIF in reverse, it would look like Ross catches the bat behind his back while it is flying towards him.
The second Cody Ross looked like a big hanger. The rest were nasty.
the slider to cody ross was on outside corner, imo.
Dear FanGraphs,
Please post your annual Top 50 Trade Value feature sometime soon. When you have time is okay.