This 33 Year Old Rookie Was 2021’s Only Knuckleballer 

As a Nationals fan, one of the most fascinating pitching matchups I ever saw was in 2010. Rookie Stephen Strasburg with fireball stuff versus R.A. Dickey.

I had my Mickey Jannis script done. CURSE you! Great video.

My favorite mickey Jannis moment was when mlb was first getting serious about pine tar they checked him for stick after getting blasted in mop-up. They checked a knuckleballer for a substance that is known for increases spin rate

I love seeing knuckleballers get recognition we need more of these great stuff

Mickey relaced my trapeze at east valley sports in mesa in 2015. He was rockin a Long Island ducks hoodie and he signed a Arizona fall league ball for me. He pitched in that league in 2015. Great guy. Been following him ever-sense.

Let's get Mickey a job for the 2022 season! 1. That knuck is nasty and us baseball fans need more of that 2. He was only given 1 opportunity in the bigs, we need to see more innings and let him settle in a little 3. One of the best guys around, both on and off the field.. Knuckle down baby!

As someone who knew him personally (I worked as a bat boy for the Binghamton rumble ponies) he is such a charming and amazing dude. When my father and I congratulated him, he responded with gratitude .

This is why I love baseball no other sport has a guy play for years independently to try to make it to the majors or to get back into the majors. Even if Jannis never appears in another major league game he did something few can say they have pitched in a major league game. Love the stories of the 30 plus year old rookies it proves where theres a will theres a way...

the problem with the Knuckleball is not the pitch itself. The problem is that with a knuckleball pitcher, you also need a knuckleball catcher.

Had the pleasure of watching him Double-A Bowie at the end of last season. He was very nice to the fans and had wicked movement on his pitches

As a college knuckleballer, this is so true: the knuckleball is the hardest pitch to master

You mean MLB The Show 21 legend Mickey Jannis?

I remember watching the 'Stros O's game and thinking "wow, knuckleballers are still a thing" not for long I guess

hell yea, lets go bluefish! what a shoutout i didnt expect. RIP Bluefish

Crazy how having a 4-5 era consistently year in and year out in the minors you still get a chance at the next level. I know many guys who had 1-3 era's and never even got a shot to the bigs before retiring in their early 30's.

As an O’s fan it was fun to watch him, I mean while he lasted but it’s cool to say we had the only knuckleballer this year

Ever since watching dickey I've adored this pitch and of the 25 MLB the show pitchers I've created 23 has a knuckleball as the third pitch. It's such a vicious pitch when you get control of it and I've laughed so hard watching hitters flail at it.

Tim Wakefield is a Red Sox Legend. Not only did he have a couple of Cy Young-worthy years, but he was impactful as a starter, reliever, and closer. He ate up a ton of innings and was instrumental in 2004. Love the knuckleball.

I've always wondered why the Knuckleball hasn't had wider adoption... If you can throw a 3-figure fast ball and follow it up with a Knuckleball, I feel like that would totally throw everyone off. It would be a deadly arsenal.

Knuckleballers are my favorite pitchers. For many years I've thrown one when playing with friends and it is an insanely difficult pitch to throw.

There's always one. Gotta love the knuckleball pitchers.

2012 documentary titled Knuckleball, highly recommended.

Good luck young man. Knuckleballers are always young.

That's gotta be tough. Constantly being traded at independent league pay rates and minor league pay rates and then finally getting your debut in the majors only to be sent back down the next day. I hope he can make it back onto that major league rotation one day.

A coworker was a baseball coach and taught me how to throw one, it's a fascinating pitch but to be able to do it with the consistency required of a major league pitcher is almost impossible and the ones who can, well I'm just in awe. Hopefully it won't die out completely.

The knuckleball needs to make a comeback. It's just an amazing pitch to watch in a game. I was a huge fan of R.A. Dickey and even tried to learn how to throw a knuckleball myself. I really want this pitch in the major again.

Great video . Deserves more recognition

As a citizen of Waldorf, Maryland, i never would’ve expected to hear about the blue crabs in one of your videos LMAO

I got to talk to him at a pitching camp. And his story is great. He’s a great guy and have a lot of info about his story to the league

My late grandfather used to throw knuckleballs (apparently) and unfortunately my dad nor I ever got to learn it from him. When 2020 happened, I had a lot of time to start learning the pitch and after a full summer of struggling, I was able to consistently throw it for movement in 2021. Studying Dickey, Wakefield, and what footage I can find of the Niekro brothers, the reason a knuckleballer gets better with age is the same as the top MLB pitchers do. You have to be smart/efficient in how you use it. Varying the speed, the movement, delivery look/timing, etc. Adam Wainwright is a conventional pitcher that is having to employ the same tactics as he is now at the tail end of his career and just doesn't have the 20 year-old testosterone filled body all these kids around him do. Wakefield was able to throw his knuckle for a strike between 55 and 85. A changeup is successful if it breaks differently (every knuckle does this) and shaves off more than 9mph.

This is the best baseball story ever

Great video! One point to make though - he bounced between AAA and AA this season, in fact he pitched for the Baysox in the AA Division Championship season in September!

Great video! You put a lot of work into this project, and it shows. It must be tough to be a Padre fan because the organization is geographically disadvantaged. I can tell you I always see lots of Padre fans when crossing the border back into the USA from TJ.

A while back I managed to develop a relatively consistent spin-less splitter. Like a splitter or forkball, it broke pretty much straight down every time, but like a knuckleball, how late and how hard it broke was often up to chance. It surprised every new catcher I threw to and they’d always drop the first one lmao

great work

There should be a lot more of them since they are more effective than the league average owing to their characteristic, unique to the breed lower BABIP. They won’t strike out more per nine than the league average as they used to, and they are a little wild and a little home-run prone, but contact against them is notoriously weak. They can pitch every day-that is the point-so they are ideal for long relief in blowouts and other low-leverage situations. I would sign every decent one I could find. Nobody: I can’t wait to face that knuckler.

Good for him getting to the big league and getting some of that bag! :)

Tim Wakefield was a knuckleballer for the Pirates in early 90s, he wasnt released and then started throwing it.

I love the knuckleball. It’s so unique and I enjoyed trying to learn it as a young kid. I was never a pitcher but I read about it in Sports Illustrated once and knew I had to try it in my backyard with my pitch back!

I love the knuckle ball , got to pitch on senior night last season and struck a kid out lol

There always has to be one practitioner of the Dark Arts. It’s pretty much an unwritten rule of baseball. I’m glad it happened for this man.

I can remember watching him play and getting to meet and know him when he was playing for the Ponies. He’s a great guy!

Hey an O's video! Thanks SportStorm!

I love the way the ball seems to glide and flutter and mesmerizing the batter into a frozen check swing

Playing growing up I had a funny throwing motion that made it easier for me to throw a knuckleball, so my dad taught me how to throw it. It caused a whole stink though and I wasn't allowed to throw it in games. I'll never forget the other teams coach getting all pissed off about it. I did so well with it and it was pretty upsetting that I suddenly wasn't allowed to lol. Finally was good at something and felt like a big contributor to the team and it was taken away 😕 should have stuck with it as I got older, but I started playing 2nd/shortstop and never pitched again.

I started throwing a knuckleball at 12 I’m 16 now and no can hit my knuckleball just gotta put in the work 💪🏼😎

Seeing R.A. Dickey with the Braves late in his career is what caught my interest in the knuckleball pitch. I hope we see another knuckler in the MLB soon.

I hope Mickey Jannis gets called back up

The game needs more knuckleballers man, hope some more guys bring a comeback for it

I mean, the Angels need pitching…

It’s great that I remember watching jannis in the frontier league years ago

I was at the game where Dickey gave up the 6 homeruns. It was against the Tigers. I remember walking into the stadium before the game and telling my friend that nuckle ball pitchers are either on or they get rocked. Well, he got rocked and sent down the next day. The record he tied was set in the 1800's by the Cleveland Spiders.

SportStorm don’t forget us when you get famous

I was at this game, I loved seeing a knuckle ball in person I always missed R.A Dickey when he came here unfortunately, sucked to watch him get smacked after that first inning.

As a Red Sox fan, knuckleballers are always welcomed here. The Sox still work closely with Tim Wakefield. I think that he could be a HUGE help with Jannis.

We need more knuckleballer in MLB. Love seeing the ball dance around with no spin

Love to watch Knuckleballers

You can say all you want about his stats and his career, but he achieved a goal the a majority of baseball players could only dream of achieving.

mickey jannis will always be in my bullpen😂

One of the coolest things to watch is a knuckleball after release. Slow motion is almost mesmerizing.

Nice vid

I faced a legitimate knuckleball thrower during college. This particular guy threw about 90 with his FB but predominantly used the knuckleball. Very difficult to hit against him as if you gear up ready for the heat, you see the flutterball come in. If you were sitting back for a knuck, he blew you away with the heat. Bottom line, it's a weapon for sure.

Oh yes I remember his debut for the orioles it was crazy

dedication 👍

If I remember correctly, Wakefield was 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA throwing a knuckleball his first year with Pittsburgh, I dont know how THAT is NOT productive.

I remember watching him at a bluefish game and being floored by someone throwing a knuckleball

The other issue with the knuckleball is that it generates a bunch of pass balls/wild pitches that advance baserunners because it's hard to catch. But I'm a proponent of having them out there! Shoot, what do the Rockies have to lose in having this guy in the bullpen. We need outlier tricks since stuff doesn't break as much and travels much further in Denver.

Idk I just cant help but be a fan of the knuckleballers. Always loved that pitch

There's some substances that can be used to intentionally deaden spin so knuckleballers could use a sunscreen to cut the amount of spin deliberately.

There's teams with so many worse pitchers than this guy he should be getting another shot. If I'm a manager I want a knuckleballer in my lineup. Imagine this guy as a closer. Guys having to try to hit this after people have been throwing heat all game. The knuckle is not a pitch that should be used for more than two innings.

I was able to throw a really good knuckler in my teens. Wish I kept it up.

I got to watch Mickey start a couple games after going back down to AA, pretty entertaining pitcher but he gets crushed every game because of his low velo on all of his pitches. Sucks that it's been a decade in the making for his first start but his velo and pitches makes it really hard for him to strive in the minors. Overall very entertaining guy though and seems to love the game.

Oh how I miss seeing Tim Wakefield spin knuckleballs, we all took it for granted with him and then RA Dickey and now they are all extinct besides maybe a handful in the minors at most

I was at his MLB debut and sat behind home (not exactly in view, still close). Those numbers don’t really represent his abilities from what I saw. Like you said at 11:48 , he should be more effective when put it opposite of the high heat we see today, except the pitcher that Jannis replaced was Tom Eshelman, who’s average velocity on his 4-seam was 85.7 MPH, which is in the 1st percentile of fastball velo and spin. The Orioles also left him out there too long because of how badly they were being outscored, which let batters pad their stats as Jannis tried to just eat innings.

You and Baseball doesn’t exist are one of my favorite Baseball RU-vidrs.

I love the knuckleball I’ve been trying to learn how to throw it now for a while and it’s pretty frustrating trying to throw it with little to no spin. Not only that, trying to get it to move considering how slow the knuckleball usually goes. Unless your R.A. Dickey and can throw it up to 80 mph. Im hoping to see more knuckleballers in the mlb.

Pretty cool Mickey Jannis is from my town :D

I love me some knuckle ball. I don't pitch a lot, but when I do (did), I try to fit in a few knuckles. There's not much better than watch a batter for wide eyed, esp when they miss. Can we get a knuckle ball slow mo supercut?

MICKEY JANNIS!!!!!!!!!

When I lived in Maryland I loved blue crab games

Of course the two players focused on in the video are named Mickey and Dickey

me and my friends idolize Mickey janis from mlb the show 😂😂

as an astros fan, it was fun watching him pitch against us

I love knuckleball pitchers. More kids need to learn this pitch.

I played against this guy in high school.

Can’t believe the Orioles sent him back down after making him pitch all the way into the 8th 🙄

When R. A. Dicky played for the Blue Jays there were times when I wondered if he would ever get a pitch over the plate.

Best part is he’s only 33-he’s only reaching his prime as knuckleballer!

I love the KNUCKLE BALL.....its classic and its deserving

I love Mickey Jannis when I’m not using him in MLB the show

Heads up video links broken at the end of this video. _Great content tho!!!_

Yeah when I was doing mlb franchise as the orioles and I put Mickey jannis to AAA

As a huge tim Wakefield fan I love this

it would be nice to see him play for the a’s

MLB the Show 21 legend Mickey Jannis

After a decade of struggle, you finally get the call...to Baltimore. Ooof.

I'm rooting for Jannis...hopefully he gets another chance.

This is why I LOVE baseball, because you don't have to be young like other sports. 33 years old and a rookie? That's literally my age right now. I could go try out for a minor league team and then go from there into the majors

It seems like if you were a parent of a pitcher who wants a path to the majors that you would be focusing a lot of time and energy on the knuckleball and maybe a knuckle curve.

If only Mickey Jannis knew that the Minnesota Twins covet right-hand pitchers who throw in the low 90s.