Request-a-GIF: A.J. Griffin’s Curvepiece
Reader Well-Beered Englishman, who has likely sired many children on even more continents, has a request that, against all odds, falls within the purview of the present author. A request for GIFs, is what kind of request. For multiple GIFs, in fact, of Oakland A’s right-hander A.J. Griffin — and, specifically, for GIFs of A.J. Griffin’s curveball.
Provided the PITCHf/x data at Brooks Baseball is accurate — and who would suspect otherwise, besides some overly suspicious jerk? — Griffin threw 13 curves during his Friday start at Texas, of which a total of five were taken for strikes and four for balls. According to Harry Pavlidis, about twice as many curves are taken for balls as strikes in the majors, suggesting that, in addition to being as shapely and refulgent as a young Brigitte Bardot, Griffin’s curve is also rather effective.
Below are the requested GIFs, my fellow Americans.
GIFs like this one, of Elvis Andrus taking strike three in the first inning:
And this one, of Mike Napoli taking strike three in the second inning:
And, finally, this one of Leonys Martin taking strike one, immediately after Mike Napoli took strike three in the second inning:
Holy moley (moly?)
Not sure your purview should include GIFfery, sir, as these are so fuzzy as to be unwatchable.
Good day.
Damn, that’s a dirty pitch.
I must not have been paying attention his 1st start, or else he wasn’t as effective, but damn. That first GIF to Andrus, it looks like he has no control of the pitch and then it just drops in there for a strike.
Yay! We’ve crossed another barrier! As if slidepiece and changepiece weren’t bad enough…
Give me a pitch, I’ll affix -piece to the end of it.
Every time.
The Eephus. Go.
But why? It gives you the appearance of someone who’s trying way too hard to sound like an insider.Meanwhile I’d wager nobody actually inside professional baseball ever uses those. Joe Morgan doesn’t count.
Obviously the author has severely misjudged the effect of his rhetoric.
Shuutopiece?
I guess it doesn’t work in Japanese.
Gyropiece
Now that I pause to reflect, I believe there is a video of a gyropiece somewhere on the internet. Not suitable for children. Or adults.
Isn’t that a Greek sandwich?
Screwpiece
knucklepiece?
not be confused with a knuckle sandwich
What about Vicente Padilla’s pitch, aka, “El Droppo”
El Droppo Piece?
Pretty damn sweet.
Souvenir City will have a few visitors next time Griffin faces the Rangers. Or anybody who bothers to watch some tape before facing him, for that matter.
My kindest thanks, good sir – though I trust that the awe and wonderment of the townsfolk are thanks enough.
Judging by his motion, he’s trying to throw the ball through the catcher. That’s a dirty, dirty pitch.
I can’t get over how awesome it is.
It comes out of his hand the same way it looks when I try to throw a breaking pitch. Except instead of flying 10 feet over the catcher’s head, it just plops right into his mitt.
Still waiting for someone to GIF this beauty!
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22620905&c_id=mlb
Agreed. I posted on FB immediately after that pitch that it was the nastiest single curve[piece] that I will ever witness. Still in awe of it.
Public Enemy #1, in all its resplendent glory.
He threw two ridiculous ones in the same Adrian Beltre PA. Beltre looked as if someone had touched his head on both occasions.
I don’t even like baseball, I just come here to learn words.
Refulgent – adj. – shining brightly
And Griffin’s curve isn’t even the nastiest curve among A’s rookie starters. That honor goes to Travis Blackley. The V-Mov on his curve is just beyond filthy.