Todd Frazier gets his first strikeout on a 55 mph knuckleball, a breakdown
What Happened
In a blowout against the Yankees, Mets infielder Todd Frazier took the mound for the first time in his career to soak up the ninth inning of a 15-2 loss. He didn't just lob it in either. Frazier mixed a fastball, a cutter with some genuine deception, and a knuckleball that topped out around 55-56 mph. He froze Adam Duvall with a knuckler for the first strikeout of his pitching life, then retired the side in order. It was the Mets' only 1-2-3 inning of the entire game.
Why This Matters
Position players pitching used to be a once-a-season curiosity. By 2020 it had become routine, and MLB eventually capped it with rules limiting when a non-pitcher can take the mound. Frazier's outing is a small classic of the genre because he actually got results, retiring all four hitters he faced with a strikeout to boot. The Duvall at-bat is the punchline: a real big-leaguer who badly wanted his first hit of the night, frozen by a 55 mph floater from a third baseman. The detail that lands is that Frazier's defenders did real work, with Jake Marisnick handling two of the outs in center. For Frazier, a strikeout now sits on the back of his baseball card forever, the kind of stat line a corner infielder never expects to own.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Todd Frazier. Teams: Orioles.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentTodd Frazier got his chance to prove his worth on the mound the other day.
First pitching appearance of his career for the Mets, who were down 15 -2, ninth
inning. The Mets hadn't had a 1 -2 -3 inning all game. But boom, get
him to hit it to your best defender, Marisnyk. Puts him away. Now here's the
big at -bat. First pitch, fastball, strike. Was it there? Yeah.
Sure. Yes. Next, calls for the cutter. Okay, a little cut fastball. Look at the
deception by Todd there. A little cupped wrist action. David Cohn, Masahiro Tonaka,
hidden behind the hip. Davey Garcia. These are all Yankees you're talking about. Shut up.
Those are right now. 0 -2, foul ball. Now he calls for the knuckleball, and
Todd says, Oh, you're too comfortable. with an 0 -2 pitch. Duvall straight froze.
I mean, Duvall straight froze. It's 56 -mile -per -hour knuckleball. I know it's behind
your head, but just straight frozen mode. And also not that happy. Duvall
doesn't have a hit in his game yet, and the rest of the team, they
put up 15 runs, so he wants to hit pretty bad. Not going to get
one, because Todd K's you. Strikeout on the back
of Todd's baseball card forever. Duvall's like doing that thing where he knows he's supposed
to laugh, but he really doesn't want to laugh. He doesn't want to get struck
out by Todd Frazier throwing a 50 -mile -per -hour knuckleball. Look at the movement
on this thing. Up, up, up, up, up. Okay, now down,
down. Wow, just gorgeous. Just beautiful. Um, just caught by all its glory
and its beauty. Says, yeah, okay. Enough of the plate for me. Strikes him out.
Next up, this umpire's going to make a play on the foul ball. 0 -1,
0 -2. He's ahead again. Drop the knuckleball, Todd. Let's see it dance. Uh -oh,
dance behind the batter again. Maybe that's Todd's move, you know. Got to keep him
honest up there. Now we're going to go back to the cutter. Away. Okay,
2 -2's the count. Knuckleball high. Now we're going to go back to, I don't
know what it was. Fastball right at the best defender again. Marisny calls it in.
1 -2 -3 inning. The first 1 -2 -3 inning of the night for the
Mets. Todd Frazier, 0 ERA with a strikeout. That's the first strikeout. Ball boy
gives him that. He gives it to that guy. Says, take care of me, pal.
And then there he is. Looks at all the rest of the Mets pitchers and
says, pretty damn easy, guys. Pretty damn easy.