MLB Knuckleball At-bats // Blandino vs Kepler
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- čas přidán 12. 07. 2024
- I found former MLB infielder Alex Blandino throwing the best raw knuckleball I'd ever seen inside Beimel Elite Athletics Los Angeles one afternoon. After watching a few pitches, we got to talking and decided to start throwing together a few times per week for several months. I shared with with him everything taught to me by the late great Phil Niekro, Charlie Hough, RA Dickey, Tom Candiotti and Steven Wright.
The first-round draft pick's knuckleball quickly became more consistent, so I called in Charlie Hough to take a look. He got the seal of approval. Alex was soon re-signed by the Reds to make it official -- he'd make the transfer to full-time knuckleball pitcher in an attempt to bring the knuckleball back to the Major Leagues.
Alex Blandino, a very thoughtful Stanford graduate, helped me understand new concepts for the knuckleball, including attack angels and sight lines.
In this video, Alex brings in his buddy Max Kepler of the Minnesota Twins just before he ships off to Florida for Spring Training. He takes live at-bats but immediately breaks the only MLB bat that he brought, so he completes the at-bats with borrowed bats, breaking another in the process.
The slow-mo rerun of the at-bats illuminates the lack of spin on the ball, and watching these at-bats should inform you how to pitch using the knuckleball.
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We Always Thought the Future Would Be Kind of Fun by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: chriszabriskie.com/darkglow/
Artist: chriszabriskie.com/
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Cy Young winner RA Dickey, Hall of Famer Phil Niekro & 24-year MLB knuckleballer Charlie Hough taught Chris Nowlin the knuckleball. Learn their secrets at:
knuckleballnation.com/
*Instructional videos
*Online training
*Worldwide clinics featuring Major League legends
*Personal Lessons
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0:00 Intro
0:15 Full-speed Live ABs
1:58 Slow-mo Live ABs
4:56 Bonus Takes - Sport
I've know Alex since his high school days. Even then, he had a very nasty knuckleball. He also had an above average fastball which just buckled hitters. This was high school though. I saw him at SpringbRlTraining this year and he was confident about his transitions. Great guy and I wish him the best.
I'm about to head out to help the Reds coach his knuckleball this week
Impressed with Kepler's knowledge of the strike zone and ability to judge the ball's trajectory.
A lot of the pitches he took I'd be fooled on.
That's why he makes millions in the MLB, and it shows you just how hard it is to compete with the knuckleball because you have to actually throw strikes with that butterfly
Wow great stuff here from Blandino (and Kepler too, looked like he squared up a few good ones!) And I think you’re right about the ball’s path following its rotation, if you ever see those that have that very slight corkscrew spin the ball will make a big spiral as it comes in, very hard to duplicate though. My faves were 3:23 and the high strike immediately following that 🔥 ⚾️
The ball definitely follows the rotation... about 90% of the time. Sometimes the ball catches a seam and shoots in a different direction much like the "air cutter." But a ball thrown with zero rotation where the seams are oriented symmetrically makes the ball absolutely explode. That's the only random knuckleball.
Yep, those completely spinless ones don’t seem to flutter they just have a nasty drop.
@@Copeiummaximus That's the way the completely spinless ones look from afar or on camera, but, if thrown hard enough (at least in the high 60s), then they are pure chaos to the catcher/hitter/umpire. Very hard to get a strike call on one of those
I think Blandino has the longest stride and arm extension back and front of any knuckleballer I've seen.
A lot of these guys short arm the delivery so as to keep their grip stiff.
He has a lanky body with long arms, so that is probably why.
He is pretty long and his forearm angle is low, too. But that's the was he throws and I think he's got the best chance of getting the knuckleball back to the bigs
It looks like Max is wearing Boxershorts 😂
Maybe he was? We had the facility all to ourselves. Very intimate.
Really hoping to see AB in the majors again.
Me too, cause that means the knuck is back in the bigs
I thought Bert Kreischer was the one speaking
That means:
A-I sound like Bert
B-I'm hilarious
C-Little bit of both