Tigers' catcher has an incredible knuckleball — could he become a pitcher?
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Tigers' catcher has an incredible knuckleball — could he become a pitcher? originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
MLB is better when there are knuckleball pitchers, but right now, that's pretty much a lost art.
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Well, except for Detroit Tigers catcher Jake Rogers.
Rogers obviously doesn't pitch regularly, but he does take the mound when the Tigers are getting clobbered.
And when he does that, he throws a legitimately impressive knuckleball:
Look, I know Jake Rogers is good at the whole catching thing.
— Calico Joe (@CalicoJoeMLB) April 22, 2026
But if he’s flipping knuckleballs like this, I see no reason to not try him at a pitcher.
He just broke this out???? Huh???? pic.twitter.com/23Zd6neDrj
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The 31-year old Rogers is a career .199 hitter. He's regarded as a solid defensive catcher, but he's a career-long backup.
It'd be a bold move to abandon catching, and there's no sense that he's actually going to do so.
But could he pull it off?
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Rogers has made six MLB pitching appearances and has a 4.76 ERA in 5.2 innings. He doesn't just throw knuckleballs in those outings, so that's not totally indicative of what he could be like -- and it's clearly a small sample size in weird game scenarios of blowouts.
It'd be a big commitment and change for Rogers to decide he was going to become a knuckleball pitcher.
But for baseball fans, it'd be fun. Rogers should do it for the rest of us.