AFL Player Profile: Mickey Jannis

Age: 29

Birthplace: Carson City, NV

Bats/Throws: R/R Ht: 5' 9" Wt: 195

Draft: Round 44 (2010, TB)

School: Cal State Bakersfield

Twitter: @MickeyJannis

Instagram: @mickeyjannis

You could say Mickey Jannis was a longshot from the start of his collegiate career. He was not sure if he would get the chance to play at Cal State Bakersfield when he arrived in 2009. It’s not that he wasn’t talented enough, there was just no baseball field.

He and his teammates had to build it. Literally! Jannis said, “they helped build it in the fall and then we were able to play in the spring”, he added that it was a, “great team bonding experience” for them. Later that year, Jannis ended up being named the opening day starter. He got to throw out the first pitch on the field he and his teammates built.

Jannis’ uphill battle continued as he was a 44th round pick by Tampa Bay in the 2010 MLB Draft. He made it as high as the single-A level with the Rays before being released by the team after the 2011 season.

Jannis could have quit baseball all together but the passion for the game burned too deep and he decided to do something drastic — completely reinvent himself as a knuckleball pitcher.

“When I got released by the Rays that’s when I took it and said I need to change something, stick out and be different than everybody else.” Jannis said about become a knuckleball pitcher.

He made the transition in independent ball, playing for a few teams from 2012 until 2015. There, Jannis who could throw a knuckleball, but only really on the side, took the time to learn how to throw it for strikes. A second chance would come when he signed with the Mets in 2015. He bounced between St. Lucie and Binghamton in the 2015 and 2016 seasons before landing in Binghamton this year.

He went 8–7 with a 3.60 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 21 starts for the Rumble Ponies, the Mets double-A team.

Jannis threw 122.1 innings, which included two complete games. He also limited free passes, only walking 38 batters this season, exactly half of what he gave up the year prior.

Jannis will have the opportunity this fall to continue build off his strong regular season as he will join the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League. This is his second AFL stint as he was a member of the 2015 Salt River Rafters.