How One Pitcher Attempts To Revive His Career Through Twitter

Image credit: Mike Pascoe (Courtesy of Mike Pascoe)

One of the most influential people in baseball’s digital ecosystem has only stepped on a Major League Baseball field once in his life, and that was with the high school team he coached. 

He isn’t a player, or a manager. He isn’t an agent, a general manager, or an executive. Instead, one of the most revered opinions in baseball comes from a lawyer in Atlanta who goes by the name PitchingNinja. 

Rob Friedman, who started using the PitchingNinja alias in late 2014, has made a name for himself by tweeting GIFs of baseball’s nastiest pitches, overlays of different arm angles, and detailed pieces of analysis surrounding grips and mechanics. 

Originally a way to share interesting coaching tidbits and resources for pitchers, the account has evolved into a brand of its own. He went from underground internet message boards like ‘Let’s Talk Pitching’ in 2009 to running one of the most successful social media accounts in baseball in 2020. Last year, he routinely racked up 75 million Twitter impressions a month. Today, he has more followers than Francisco Lindor, Christian Yellich, and Cody Bellinger. 

“I’m not the guy that’s trying to make money off people, I’m doing it because I like it and maybe that comes through,” Friedman said. “It ends up giving pitchers an identity.” 

Following a short-lived copyright dispute with MLB, he was hired by the league as an independent contractor, producing content and growing the game through Twitter. He also contributed analysis to ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. 

Several MLB pitchers text Friedman from the dugout during games, anxiously requesting a breakdown of an opposing pitcher’s grip on a certain pitch. On a public stage, Mets righthander Marcus Stroman acknowledges that Friedman helped him with his changeup, as has Lance McCullers Jr. He’s also been told, on numerous occasions, that Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole watch their respective GIF compilations on his page. 

He’s providing players with a judgement-free opportunity to consult with a third party. He acknowledges that players might not want to be solely at the mercy of their coaches and the bureaucracy of the organization. Sometimes, they just want to figure it out themselves. 

One player he’s close with is Mike Pascoe, a righthander formerly in the Blue Jays’ organization who was drafted in the 24th round of the 2018 draft out of San Jacinto College. 

Pascoe pitched to a combined 7.59 ERA in 70 innings over parts of two seasons between Rookie ball, short-season ball and low Class A. 

Though he topped out at 98 mph on his fastball and demonstrated absurd movement, he struggled with his command, walking 59 batters. Pascoe’s goal during the 2019 fall was to take some time, regroup, and process the fact that he just pitched the most physically demanding season of his life. In November, just as he was preparing to start training, he received a call from Gil Kim, the Blue Jays’ director of player development—he was being released. 

“I really didn’t know what to say,” Pascoe, 22, admitted. “But, I remember thinking to myself, ‘I know I’m not done.’ I knew, for some reason, that I wasn’t done pitching at that level, and to this day I still don’t think that.” 

 

Faced with the biggest challenge of his baseball career, Pascoe started instinctively reaching out to his network of baseball connections, including Friedman, whom he met as a senior in high school at a Perfect Game tournament in Jupiter, Fla. in October 2015. 

The two were initially connected by Ryan Parker, the hitting coach for Pascoe’s squad and a friend of Friedman’s. Pascoe was playing for North East Baseball out of Massachusetts, while Friedman’s son, Jack, who now pitches for Georgia Tech, was playing for Atlanta’s East Cobb Astros.

At that time, Friedman wasn’t well-known. He had just 5,000 Twitter followers. But Pascoe and Friedman stayed in touch just as PitchingNinja was expanding rapidly in popularity and scope. Whenever Pascoe had a video that he thought would be worth sharing, he sent it Friedman’s way and got some private feedback on his grip, movement, or mechanics. 

“His arm action was off the charts,” Friedman recalled of his first time watching Pascoe pitch. “I thought with strength and a little refinement of his mechanics, he could be a really good pitcher. He stood out to me, just because his arm was so quick.” 

It wasn’t until late last year that their relationship really became something worth marketing. To date, Friedman and Pascoe have only ever met in person once, at that tournament in Jupiter, but their connection stays strong, albeit only through monthly Twitter conversations. Shortly after being released, Pascoe tweeted a highlight pack and, on a whim, tagged Friedman’s PitchingNinja account. 

The message of the tweet was simple: “Right-handed starter. Looking for an invite to Spring Training.” 

Friedman retweeted the video and it instantly garnered attention from baseball reporters nationwide. The Athletic’s Emily Waldon responded with an encouraging comment, “Atta boy, Mike!”, as did executives from Prep Baseball Report (PBR) and fellow minor league pitchers. 

Pascoe’s followers started tagging big league teams to try and get their attention. That episode showed Pascoe the value and potential of social media. 

“It just kept getting more and more interest,” Pascoe said. “I started thinking that we should keep doing this to start attracting interest towards my stuff.” 

Suddenly, Pascoe had drummed up more online traffic than he could believe—the video racked up 104,000 views. He tweeted pictures of his makeshift mound and videos of bullpen sessions with attached Rapsodo readings, all of which helped him get noticed in the pitching community. 

Because of Friedman’s influence, he was getting more traffic than he had been when in the Blue Jays organization. When he was released, he had just over 7,000 followers. Now, he has over 12,500. 

But, there was one problem. That viral clip was of Pascoe pitching in the past. Mostly, it was composed of his highlights with the Blue Jays organization. 

Interested teams would ask to see his most current numbers and Rapsodo readings. As an unsigned hurler, Pascoe didn’t have new game film to offer. 

 

He was ramping himself up to start throwing, but he was by no means ready to show off his best stuff in professional settings. So, he started recording his live at-bat sessions at Artistic Sports in Queens, N.Y., a tiny basement facility run by former minor leaguer Greg Modica. 

Along with his agent, Trevor Kieboom of ACES, Pascoe got the chance to throw a bullpen with the Detroit Tigers at their spring training complex in Lakeland, Fla. this winter. He was the second of about 40 pitchers to throw at the tryout and didn’t think much of the opportunity. 

There were so many pitchers that he felt it difficult to stand out in such a setting. 

But, as he was packing up his stuff, a few players and Tigers personnel came up to him, having recognized him. 

“Hey, you look really familiar,” one of them said to Pascoe. 

“You might’ve seen me on Twitter,” he answered. 

“Oh yeah, that’s where I know you from,” the player acknowledged.

Now, he regularly amasses 10,000 views on each of his videos, thanks in large part to Friedman constantly retweeting and commenting on his clips, which are posted at least once a week. 

One video, in particular, which shows Pascoe showing how to throw his changeup, has over 60,000 views. 

Friedman promoting Pascoe’s content has helped the righthander craft a unique identity, even with his employment status. Despite never playing above the low Class A, Pascoe’s tweets have been liked by Stroman and Mike Clevinger, while Astros pitcher Collin McHugh even direct-messaged him to learn about his changeup grip. 

There’s no concrete schedule or strategy that Pascoe follows when creating and sharing content on Twitter, but he tries to post things later in the day, when he knows more people are likely online.

He puts his videos out there, tags PitchingNinja’s account, and follows up on all of his posted content. 

In a way, Pascoe now finds himself in a perplexing situation, a baseball purgatory of sorts. It’s his command that faltered at the professional level, and he’ll be the first to admit it. If some team is prepared to put in the time necessary to sign and develop him, perhaps he could rise through the minor leagues. Friedman believes Pascoe has what it takes to get back in the minor leagues.

“He definitely does,” Friedman said, calling Pascoe’s changeup “extremely high level.”

“He puts himself out there, he’s not afraid. Some guys would just fade off into the sunset and he’s not willing to do that.” 

In Friedman’s eyes, Pascoe is a challenge for any coach willing to take him on. Organizations shouldn’t just look at his stats, he cautions. Pascoe possesses elite stuff, high velocity on his fastball and a bulldog attitude. Still, he needs to work on his control if he’s going to stand a chance in professional baseball. 

As of July 16, Pascoe doesn’t have a contract to play in affiliated baseball. At various points throughout this offseason, he was in touch with 10 MLB teams, with the Reds, Indians, and Mariners showing the most interest. 

However, he did sign with the Windy City ThunderBolts of the independent Frontier League before the season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, he’s pitching for the Rockland Boulders of the Canadian-American League. He’s betting on performing well enough in independent ball to get the attention of an affiliated organization. 

For now, he’s pitching again, expanding his network and carving out an identity for himself through social media. 

“Hopefully one day I can pitch in a big league game and he’ll be there to watch,” Pascoe said of Friedman’s influence. “That’s probably the best I can do to pay him back, and I know that’s all he wants. I want him to be sitting in the front row at my big-league debut.”