Catcher only wants to throw knuckleballs, a breakdown #mlb #baseball #yankees
What Happened
In a Yankees blowout, position player Kyle Higashioka took the mound to mop up the final innings, and the catcher behind the plate apparently let him have some fun. Higashioka, a backup catcher by trade, started lobbing knuckleballs and eephus pitches with no real velocity. Despite the junk, the dancing knuckleball cut in on a hitter's hands and produced a weak groundout to short. Jomboy walks through the pitch grips and the movement, breaking down how a catcher-turned-pitcher got an out with garbage.
Why This Matters
Position players pitching has become routine in modern blowouts, a way to save the bullpen for games that still matter. MLB tightened the rules in 2022, requiring a team to be up or down by at least eight runs in the ninth, or by ten at any point, before a non-pitcher can take the mound. Higashioka, primarily Gerrit Cole's personal catcher for years in the Bronx, throwing knucklers fits that pattern perfectly. The moment is pure low-stakes comedy, but it also shows how loose a clubhouse gets when the score is out of hand. For Higashioka, it was a footnote in a 2024 season that ended with him leaving New York. The groundout counts the same as one from a flamethrowing reliever, which is the whole joke.
With 2.7M views, this clip ranks #68 of 1,583 Jomboy breakdowns, landing in the top 4.3% of the entire catalog.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Kyle Higashioka, Gerrit Cole. Teams: Yankees, Orioles.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentlooks at his catcher says hey knuckleball give me the force i want to throw the knuckleball
we got a catcher on the mound for the Yankees because they're up big looks at dugout says watch
this here we go now the first pitch he didn't call for the knuckleball he said give me the
ephus that pitch the 56 just pass it to me he says okay here you go you want the four fingers
there you go gets the grip ready and okay oh well as he liked it a little bit of dance to it
is he going to call it again on the one one pitch let's see yep there it is again okay he's like i
got to get this a little more elevated and bam ground out to short that one danced a little bit
it cut in on his hands uses the knuckleball nasty right yep and look look at this little dancer
and then goes right just leaks right at the end pitch mix overlay you know you need it