Chris Klemmer and Eric Hubbs step in vs. big league arms

The setup: a batting cage, a video screen and a machine that throws a pitcher's real stuff out of a hole where his hand would be. Klemmer went first.

Viva La Stool

@VivaLaStool

Baseball savant Chris Klemmer trying to hit a pitch in the batting cage:

To be clear, Wakefield was not on the mound. The late Red Sox knuckleballer is a video projection here, and the machine does the rest. But a knuckler at 74 mph is maybe the meanest thing you can throw at a guy who does not hit for a living. It does not come in hot. It comes in drunk. Wakefield started Game 1 of the 2004 World Series for Boston and made a career out of making real big leaguers look silly with that pitch, so the bar for Klemmer was basically on the floor. Marty Mush called it a special at-bat, and that is about the most generous way to say it.

The reaction was the usual one whenever Klemmer does something with his body: people want more. The yak pro day, hoops against Meek, the tap dancing, the races. It is never pretty. It is always watchable. That is the whole appeal, and Barstool has known it for years without ever quite leaning into it as hard as fans want.

Then Hubbs took his turn, and he picked a much harder assignment. Cam Schlittler just finished a season with a 14-6 record and an AL-best 1.95 ERA over 33 starts for the Yankees, and he was named the AL Outstanding Pitcher at the Players Choice Awards. Hubbs says he got a 98 mph sinker from the Schlittler simulation and fouled it off, after years without swinging a bat.

Eric Hubbs

@BarstoolHubbs

I'd say being able to foul off a Cam Schlittler 98 mph sinker after not swinging a bat for years makes me a better option than most of the current Red Sox lineup.

The Red Sox line is a joke, but only kind of. Pitching yourself to Boston off one foul ball is a bit. Doing it to Red Sox fans right after a season of watching Schlittler carve up the American League is a bit with some venom in it. Hubbs knows exactly who is going to read that tweet.

The whole thing went down at Vector Sports & Performance in Port Chester. It is a 25,000-square-foot baseball training place with 9 batting cages, built for travel teams and private lessons, and for one afternoon it was hosting a pair of bloggers taking hacks. Hubbs posted the full video.

Eric Hubbs

@BarstoolHubbs

Full video here. What a cool time over at Vector Sports in Port Chester, NY t.co/GxJubF0WkQ

The obvious next step is a full lineup. Run every Barstool baseball guy through the machine and keep track of who makes contact, who whiffs and who goes after a knuckleball that finishes in the other cage. Klemmer already has the knuckler on tape. Somebody should give him the Schlittler sinker next and see if he gets a foul ball out of it like Hubbs did.