Knuckleball Duel: Rare Pitchers' Matchup

On April 3, picture this, Thursday night at Cheney Stadium, Tacoma beats El Paso 3-1,

but the real story is both starting pictures throwing.

Nuckelballs.

Matt Waldron on rehab for El Paso and Gabe Mosser for Tacoma pulled off a match-up not

seen in Pro Baseball for over 25 years.

These two go way back as former teammates in the Padre system, from Hy-A to Triple-A.

Nuckelballs are super rare these days.

Only 10 guys have thrown them in the majors since tracking started in 2008 and just 13 at

Triple-A since 2023.

Last confirmed duel like this was Tim Wakefield vs. Steve Sparks back in 2000.

Fans got a treat watching those pitches dance and dive.

Mosser, who picked up the Nuclear in high school and brought it back this year, mixes it

in sparingly but says it has a mind of its own.

Waldron leans on it heavy, using it over 70% last season in San Diego and cranked up

the speed a bit this time.

Both crushed it on the mound, Waldron struck out 6 over 4 scoreless innings, Mosser gave

up just 1 run in 6 frames.

Tracker sometimes missed the Nuclear's wild movement, calling it a sweeper or splitter,

but no extra base hits off Mosser's version ever.

For Waldron, it's a step toward rejoining the Padres.

Mosser, a 29th round pick grinding since 2018, keeps pushing pitch by pitch toward the

Bigs.

Rare nights like this remind us, baseball still drops surprises.

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