Knuckleball Duel: Rare Pitchers' Matchup

0:00On 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

1:04up 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. This has been MLB News Today, powered by AI.