Former MLB relief pitcher CJ Nitkowski appears to have successfully made the transition from professional ballplayer to coach. His training methods are a bit unorthodox, but we all know all the great ones like to be unpredictable.
On Friday morning, Nitkowski posted a video on Twitter of him teaching his son how to execute a proper take-out slide when sliding into second base. In order to show him how to break up a double play, Nitkowski used the family dog.
“Not PETA friendly,” he wrote. “We used our dog to teach my son how to take out a middle infielder on a double play.”
You can say that again. We have seen the folks at PETA get worked up over far less than a toddler taking out a pug’s legs with a slide, so they probably aren’t going to like this. Having said that, the dog was wagging its tail and appeared to be perfectly fine. If Nitkowski’s starts having Jr. use the dog to practice dislodging the ball from a catcher, then we should start worrying.
Fist bump to Big League Stew
