Chelsea Baker, a 17-year-old high school pitcher from Florida nicknamed the “Knuckleball Princess,” was invited to Tropicana Field Monday and got to throw batting practice to some Rays players before the team’s game against the Pirates.
Baker met Rays manager Joe Maddon at an awards ceremony recently, and he invited her to come down to the park.
Baker, who went 3-0 with a 0.74 ERA in 19 innings as a junior at Durant High School in Plant City, threw to Evan Longoria, David Price and Jose Molina. Maddon said Baker was outstanding and that her knuckleball “moves nicely.”
How did Baker learn to throw the tricky pitch? Former All-Star Joe Niekro taught her.
Niekro was a coach of her Plant City Patriots team and spent two years teaching her one-on-one how to master it.
“I begged him, ‘Coach Joe, teach me how to throw it!’ ” Baker recalled via The Tampa Bay Times. “He only taught me. All the other boys would ask him, but he said he saw something in me.”
Baker was in the spotlight years ago after throwing two perfect games as a Little Leaguer. She has continued to play baseball and has been successful in the sport, even becoming the first female to play varsity baseball in her county.
And Maddon is quite a fan of hers:
Chelsea’s knuckleball is real. She hit Longo in the back. I loved it. With that pitch & her composure she can compete pic.twitter.com/m91X3rZR3G
— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) June 23, 2014
Newest addition to my office: Chelsea Baker’s game ball from her first CG for Durant HS. She’ll be here Monday. pic.twitter.com/Tp6gBEx0MN
— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) June 19, 2014
Below are some more videos of Baker’s BP session on Monday.
She hit Longoria in the back with a pitch:
17-year-old knuckleballer Cheslea Baker plunks @Evan3Longoria during BP, then yelled, "Sorry!" https://t.co/uFM41fxF5U
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 23, 2014
But they worked it all out:
Here she is throwing to Price:
Next @DAVIDprice14 steps in against the 17-year-old knuckleballer Chelsea Baker. Watch at your own risk. https://t.co/j2IgerDpmr
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 23, 2014
She also got to throw out the ceremonial first pitch:
And here is a video about her story:
