The St. Lucie Mets came into town with a fellow named Jacob Ruckle taking the start for the Mets.

He allowed 1 run (unearned) on 5 hits while striking out 4 in 5 innings for a no decision. What was interesting about him was his delivery.

It's been described as resembling a combination of the "herky-jerky" delivery of Dontrelle Willis and the high leg kick of Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. In watching it, the natural question that pops up is "where did it come from?"

Ruckle credits a scout in developing the pitch. "I have a scout that signed me with the New York Mets; his name is Dave Birecki," said Ruckle in an online interview. "When I was just coming out of high school he asked me to try and create some deception or something and I asked him what I should do and he said, ‘Just try to flare your front arm up,' and I kind of exaggerated a little bit and I've always had kind of a high leg kick, so I started doing that and I liked it; it felt comfortable right from the get go. So far it's worked for me and I'll continue to use it. I like it, it's different. You don't see any other guy like that."

The Mets drafted Ruckle in the 41st round of the 2004 draft.

Ruckle's had some success in the minors to date, throwing a fastball around 88 miles an hour. It has hit 91 on occassion. He mixes in a curve as well, although he doesn't throw for strikes, going more for ground balls.

"I just try and throw strikes, change speeds and locate pitches," said Ruckle said in an interview after throwing eight innings of shut out ball against the Staten Island Yankees on July 6 of 2006. "I did the same thing in St. Lucie and I'll continue to do the same thing wherever I go."

Anyway, I want to learn to pitch like this:



Here's the view from the other side...



Weird, isn't it?

I found another bit on youtube as well called The Ruckle Shuffle. Kind of amusing, although I certainly wouldn't call it a shuffle movement.