FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Sports

Look at this Wacky Delivery from a Red Sox Pitching Prospect

Roniel Raudes is a 19-year-old pitcher in the Red Sox system with a truly funky delivery.

Courtesy of Keith Law, please enjoy this weirdo windup from Red Sox pitcher Roniel Raudes. He's a 19-year-old righty from Nicaragua who has the funkiest delivery this side of Hideo Nomo. There have been plenty of pitchers in baseball with bizarre tics and timing mechanisms embedded in their deliveries—Craig Kimbrel's modified Crane Kick, Pat Neshak's am-I-bowling-or-pitching-you-just-don't-know, and Dontrell Willis's touch-the-face-of-God-with-my-foot deliveries all come to mind—but this is something else.

Raudes toes the rubber, gets into a crouch, circumnavigates his head with his glove, and then re-sets for at least three Mississippis before coming to the plate.

He's not a flamethrower, but he's always around the plate and is not afraid to throw strikes. You can see it in his stat line from the South Atlantic League's Greenville Drive. Last year, as the youngest player in the league, he gave up 112 hits in 113 innings, but he also struck out 104 batters, while only walking 23. It's just a shame Kevin Youkilis isn't around anymore for some head-to-head weirdo action.