Baltimore Orioles Bring In Knuckleballer Mickey Jannis

Knuckleball pitcher Mickey Jannis is joining the Baltimore Orioles organization.

According to his personal Twitter account, former New York Mets knuckleball pitcher Mickey Jannis is joining the Baltimore Orioles after pitching in the Mets organization since the 2015 season.

Jannis spent the majority of 2019 with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (Mets Double-A affiliate), going 7-5 with a 3.10 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. Across 119 innings pitched, the 32-year-old righty struck out 103 hitters and limited Eastern League opponents to two home runs.

Jannis was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 44th round of the 2010 MLB draft, making 34 appearances in the lower minors over the next year and a half before being released by the organization.

He would go on to spend the next three-plus seasons in independent ball, pitching for various teams in both the Frontier League and Atlantic League. His final season in indy ball was with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League. Jannis went 6-2 with a 1.18 ERA and 0.94 WHIP, leading to his second chance at affiliate ball with the Mets, where he learned to harness his knuckleball and find success back in professional baseball.

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You are likely familiar with Jannis and his baseball journey. The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh put together a fantastic story about not only Jannis but the knuckleball back in September, titled “The Knuckleball Isn’t Dead Yet.”

Jannis also told his own story over at Metsmerizedonline.com last year in a four-part series. I highly encourage you to read both Lindbergh’s article and Jannis’ own story, linked here as Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. It’s a Tuesday afternoon at the office, I promise you this is much more entertaining than any spreadsheet you’re currently filling out.

I’m assuming this is a minor league deal (signing hasn’t been confirmed by the Baltimore Orioles yet) and it’s probably also safe to assume Jannis will receive an invitation to spring training. We are also still waiting to receive the official spring training invite list ahead of pitchers and catchers reporting on February 11th.

Jannis owns a 39-41 record and 4.17 ERA across 141 career minor league appearances.