clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

2014 SB Nation MLB Awards: Nationals' Most Important Hit of the Year

So which Washington Nationals' hitter connected for the Most Important Hit of the Year in 2014? Ian Desmond? Jayson Werth? Adam LaRoche? Bryce Harper? Wilson Ramos? What exactly do you mean by "important hit"? If it's the most important...

By Patrick Reddington
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

You all know how this works by now. The readers at each MLB team site throughout the SB Nation are voting on a series of key moments for their respective teams in 2014.

Voting for the Washington Nationals' "Funniest Moment" of the season, the "Most Regrettable Moment", and the Nats' "Best Defensive Play" of the year is already underway.

Now it's time to pick the Most Important Hit of the Year that was for Washington. We asked you to come up with a list of nominees for the award for the biggest hit of the season for the Nationals and what follows is a list of those hits and a poll where you can choose the biggest.

Voting for the awards is open until November 16th here at FBB.

Starting on November 17th, the winners in each category will be sent on to the writers at sbnation.com/MLB where an SB Nation/MLB committee will select 4-5 nominees for each category based on team site results and hold a nationwide vote for each on sbnation.com/MLB to determine the league-wide winners.

We will, of course, post those final polls on each of our individual sites and you can then vote again for the overall winners.

[ed. note - "Yes, we called this the 'biggest' hit of the year in the pre-post post, instead of the 'most important'  hit. I read 'most important' as 'biggest' for some reason. I guess I thought 'biggest hit' because 'Most Important' is fairly limiting, in that it would have to be the hit that clinched the Nationals' second postseason berth in three years, right? Since they didn't win the NLDS, NLCS or World Series, the hit that clinched the division would necessarily be the 'most important' one right? Is there any way you could call any other hit more 'important'? I guess Ian Desmond's HR in Game 162 could be a 'most important' contender since it provided the margin of victory in Jordan Zimmermann's no-hitter. Do we have to start the voting for this one all over again...?"]

The categories are:

• VOTE for the Washington Nationals' Most Important Hit of the Year below...

• The Nominees Are...

10. Walk-off Werth: Jayson Werth hits a walk-off winner to beat the Brewers a half-inning after a blow save:

9. Ian Desmond - 9/28/14: HR off Marlins' RHP Henderson Alvarez, which provided the margin of victory in Jordan Zimmermann's no-hitter:

8. Kershaw's Human: Bryce Harper's home run off Clayton Kershaw, which was the only homer a left-hander hit off the Dodgers' starter this season?:

7. LaR in LA: LaRoche ties it up before the Nats eventuallly win it: Adam LaRoche's 9th inning, game-tying, home run off Kenley Jansen in L.A.:

6. #STEAK?: Ian Desmond takes Aaron Harang deep for a 2-0 lead in a 3-0 win over the Braves, Nats clinch NL East in Turner Field:

5. Werth It: Jayson Werth doubles to left in the bottom of the ninth to tie the Angels up at 4-4 in an April battle with LA in D.C.:

4. LaR gives the Nats' three straight walk-offs and seven straight wins: Adam LaRoche's walk-off home run that gave the Nats' their third straight walk-off win and the seventh win of their ten-game win streak?

3. Upper deck: Bryce Harper takes Giants' reliever Hunter Strickland deep no.1:

2. Harper vs Strickland Part 2: Bryce Harper takes Giants' reliever Hunter Strickland deep no.2 [Splash]:

1. #HORNSUP: Wilson Ramos hits a two-run home run to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in what ended up a walk-off win in the 11th:

• So who connected for the Nationals' Most Important Hit of the Year? VOTE BELOW:

• While you're at it, vote for the rest of our year-end awards through the links below:

More From Federal Baseball