The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Hintzen knuckles down in his first full season as pro
There are knuckleball pitchers, and you know the names: Phil Niekro, Joe Niekro, Tim Wakefield, R.A. Dickey, current Red Sox Steven Wright, to name a few.
Greenwich’s J.T. Hintzen boasts a knuckleball in his arsenal, a pitch he learned at a young age, kept tucked away through much of high school and college and has dusted off more recently in his second (and first full) season of pro ball.
But don’t lump Hintzen in with the Niekros, Wakefield, etc. just yet. For one, he’s got a long way to go in his career to reach their level. Plus, unlike those aforementioned pitchers, Hintzen doesn’t rely almost solely on his knuckler.
“I’m a pitcher who throws a knuckleball,” Hintzen said by phone earlier this week, “not a knuckleball pitcher.”
Indeed, Hintzen still features his 8892 MPH fastball about 60 to 70 percent of the time, mixing in his slider, changeup and knuckleball to keep hitters offbalance. It’s been working pretty well this season.
Entering this weekend’s action, Hintzen boasted a 3.42 ERA and 1.25 WHIP out of the bullpen for the Carolina Mudcats, the HighA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. The 6foot, 185pound righthander had struck out 66 batters and walked just 19 in 551⁄3 innings. Opposing batters were hitting just .239 off him.
“I’m just trying to do my job, hopefully not let up any runs, add a couple more strikeouts, beef my numbers up a little more,” he said, as the long grind of the season heads into its final couple of weeks.
Hintzen had a strong career at Greenwich High, helping the Cardinals to an undefeated regular season as a sophomore and hitting .429 as a senior with an FCIACleading 52 strikeouts on the mound.
He went off to play at The University of the South, a small, Division 3 program in Sewanee, Tenn. for two years. With hopes of someday playing professionally, however, Hintzen transferred to Florida Southern, a Division 2 program with a strong baseball tradition.
He heard from a few pro scouts after a decent junior season, but things really exploded his senior year, when he dominated: 140 with a 1.96 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 96 innings. Perhaps most impressively, he walked a mere 13 batters all season.
“I generally try to make the guy hit the ball,” Hintzen said. “Some guys are trying for the groundball and the double play, but I usually go for the strikeout. If they get a hit, good luck to them, but I’m not trying to give anybody a free base.”
It was at Florida Southern where Hintzen started throwing his knuckleball again. And perhaps that’s no surprise: the team is coached by Lance Niekro, Joe’s son and Phil’s nephew.
“He kind of encouraged me to use it from time to time,” said Hintzen, whose dad, Jim, taught him the pitch as a youngster, a way to prevent him from throwing curveballs and putting undue stress on his arm.
Still, the Brewers didn’t even realize Hintzen threw a knuckler when they selected him in the 10th round of the 2018 MLB Draft. He spent most of last summer with ClassA Wisconsin, utilizing his fastball “about 80 percent of the time” and going 31 with a 3.22 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. Hintzen reported to his first spring training this year and has since put up strong numbers out of the Mudcats’ bullpen.
There could come a time when Hintzen employs his knuckler on a more fulltime basis.
“I’m not gonna do that until I’m forced to,” he said. “But it certainly is a possibility that I’ve been asked about and thought about before. They didn’t know I threw a knuckleball when I was drafted. I was fastball, slider, changeup. Once they learned I did, they wanted me to develop it. But they drafted me with a certain goal in mind, so …”
So, for now, J.T. Hintzen remains a pitcher who throws a knuckleball, not a knuckleball pitcher.
STATEMENT FROM PRENTICE
After stirring up controversy earlier in the week by refusing to meet with the Connecticut chapter of the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations (CAIR), Connecticut Tigers owner E. Miles Prentice released the following statement on Friday:
“For many baseball fans, the game is considered America’s pastime and a nearreligious experience. There is, of course, no religious test for attending the games or any other form of discrimination practiced by any team with which I have been associated—never has been, never will be. The Norwich Tigers welcome everyone who wants to enjoy the sport as much as our outstanding players do.
After a short, longplanned family vacation next week, I will be meeting with influential leaders of various faith communities to affirm my personal commitment to welcoming and serving all of our fans, irrespective of their religious beliefs, if any, as we have always done.”
Prentice is chairman of the Center for Security Policy, an organization labeled an antiMuslim hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The email was sent out Hamilton Strategies, a media group which identified Prentice as owner of the Norwich Tigers. The team has been known as the Connecticut Tigers since it arrived at Dodd Stadium in 2010. The Norwich Navigators occupied Dodd before that.
Prentice is also coowner of the DoubleA Midland (Texas) RockHounds.