This Minor League closer explains why he celebrates every save with a backflip on the mound
Flip your bat. Stare your homer down like you're Ferris Bueller looking at a Chagall. There's seemingly no limit to the ways you can wild out on a baseball field -- provided that you're a hitter.
Pitchers, on the other hand, aren't feeling themselves nearly as much as they should. Sure, there's the occasional Fernando Rodney shooting an imaginary arrow into the sky, but beyond that, we're mostly in the realm of glove claps and fistpumps. That is, until Dusten Knight came along.
You may remember Knight from last week's news cycle. If not, here's a refresher: He's the closer for the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos, and he celebrates each one of his saves by doing a dang backflip right there on the field.
Bat flips? Why let hitters have all the fun?#BackFlipSZN@MiLB @ESPNAssignDesk @SLeagueBaseball pic.twitter.com/1AbrOadXN2
— Pensacola Blue Wahoos (@BlueWahoosBBall) April 12, 2019
Seriously: every single save.
Another save. Another backflip. pic.twitter.com/QqZP4Ywhj3
— Pensacola Blue Wahoos (@BlueWahoosBBall) April 16, 2019
But just who is this visionary? How long has he been doing this? And why a backflip, of all things? I simply had to know, so I called Knight up and asked him.
Funnily enough, he told me that the celebration wasn't even his idea. He'd been backflipping since grade school, when, while waiting for a wrestling practice start, he ran up a wall, flipped over his head and managed to stick the landing.
"I would always do flips -- backflips, frontflips, whatever I wanted to do," Knight said. "Guys didn’t think I could do it, so I did it. I haven’t ever been nervous, it feels like breathing to me."
But while he'd entertain teammates with it in practice or in the dugout, he never thought about actually incorporating it into his routine on the mound -- until a fortuitous run-in with legendary Giants slugger Will Clark. Clark served as a roving instructor for San Francisco last season, bouncing around their Minor League affiliates to offer dinger-mashing guidance.
One of those stops took him to the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Giants' Double-A affiliate, where Knight was in the bullpen. (Before being acquired by the Twins, the righty spent his first six seasons with San Francisco, which took him in the 28th round of the 2013 Draft.) Clark caught Knight doing a backflip after a bullpen session and insisted that he bust it out during a game sometime. That was all Knight needed to hear.
"I said, 'OK, the next time I get a save, definitely,'" Knight recalled. "Two days later I have a save opportunity, and ... I mean, when Will Clark says something you can't not do it."
And so the tradition was born.
Still undefeated.
— Pensacola Blue Wahoos (@BlueWahoosBBall) April 6, 2019
Wahoos hold on to win game two 4-3 in extra innings!
Dusten Knight locks down the save and then DOES A BACKFLIP.
High fives for everyone. pic.twitter.com/Cd3Yzn6b0p
Knight's been punctuating wins with the move ever since. But when he came over to Minnesota this offseason -- his first experience with a new organization -- he knew that he had to get everyone on the same page right away. So he took the backflips to the back fields.
"After every bullpen I threw, I would just backflip and then walk straight to the catcher," he said. Naturally, that caught the attention of Minnesota's farm director, who brought Knight over for a quick talk. This was the opposite of a trip to the principal's office, though: "He was like, 'If you ever get a save, I wanna see you do a backflip because that is awesome.'"
His teammates need a little convincing at first, but they got on board.
"The first time, my teammates absolutely hated me for doing it," he said with a laugh. "As soon as I landed, all the infielders were like, 'Dude, why’d you do that? We’re gonna get hit tomorrow.'"
But Knight was adamant that it was no big deal -- and it turned out that he was right. "They’ve seen that no one really cares, and they’ve accepted it," he said, while making sure to point out that he's never gotten any teammates plunked. "It’s all fun, it's all part of the game. It doesn’t mean anything show-uppy."
And really, that's all that this is about for Knight: a way to hang on to the sense of freedom and joy he felt as a kid running up that gymnasium wall, and a way to remind everybody that baseball, more than anything, is fun.
"We love what we do," he said. "Everything we do out there when we express ourselves is to show you that this is our passion, this is our love, and we do things because we enjoy this game more than anything -- that’s why we play it. We play a kid’s game. And I think if you’re serious all the time fans don’t really get to see that."
Knight's gotten off to a great start for Pensacola this season, posting a 1.23 ERA and nailing down four saves. Which is good news -- because if the 28-year-old finally gets the call to The Show, the backflip is "absolutely" coming with him.
By now @BlueWahoosBBall and fans know what’s next when Dusten Knight closes out a win. He preserved 8-5 win today @Mobile_BayBears pic.twitter.com/YuMYLa0IQL
— Bill Vilona (@billvilonaPNJ) April 22, 2019
