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Rob Friedman (baseball analyst)

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Rob Friedman (born c. 1966), also known by the moniker PitchingNinja, is an American baseball analyst and social media personality known for his pitching gifs and videos on Twitter and for creating social media resources for baseball recruiting and scouting.[1][2] He is an analyst for Major League Baseball, Peacock, Fox Sports, NESN and ESPN.[3][4] Friedman coached High School baseball and is also a licensed attorney.[5] Friedman also founded Geolocation Software company Digital Envoy. As of July 2024, Friedman had over 500,000 followers on his PitchingNinja Twitter account and over 500,000 followers on Instagram.[6] Friedman's PitchingNinja account has been referred to as "one of baseball’s most famous social media accounts".[7][8] Friedman also has over 210,000 subscribers on the PitchingNinja YouTube channel.[9]

Rob Friedman
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina (B.A.)
Emory Law School (J.D.)
Known forBaseball Analyst/Social Media Personality

Major League Baseball dispute and resolution

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In 2019, Friedman was briefly suspended from Twitter by Major League Baseball and Twitter, due to a copyright dispute,[10][11] but eventually was reinstated and hired as an analyst for Major League Baseball, in what was seen as a potential change for baseball's restrictive social media policy.[12][13][14] Since Friedman's reinstatement, his work has been featured on MLB.com.[15][16][17][18][19]

Pitching Analyst

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Friedman creates pitching analysis videos and GIFs on Twitter and is a pitching analyst for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, ESPN College Baseball and Major League Baseball.[20] An ESPN article previewing the 2019 Major League Baseball postseason referred to certain pitchers as "PitchingNinja Bait", meaning: "A pitcher whose pitches are so unrepentantly sexy they are likely to be turned into GIFs by invaluable Twitterer, @pitchingninja."[21]

During the 2019 season, Friedman also contributed to a weekly segment for "Changeup" on DAZN with Cespedes Family BBQ featuring each week's Major League Baseball pitching highlights and also a weekly segment for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.[22][23][24][25]

Friedman's analysis has frequently been used by journalists and media outlets to help visually illustrate the pitches of major league pitchers.[26][27][28][29][30] Additionally, his work has also been credited by Major League and Minor League pitchers in helping them develop and refine their pitches.[31][32][33][34][35][36] In 2020, Jake Diekman credited Friedman with helping him develop his slider through interactions on Twitter.[37] Yu Darvish also credited Friedman with helping improve his slider.[38] Cole Irvin said he learned his cutter from watching Corbin Burnes' interview with Friedman on Friedman's PitchingNinja YouTube Channel.[39][40]

Friedman also gave the nickname "Airbender" to Devin Williams' changeup, which was called baseball's most "absurd" pitch.[41][42] Friedman's coverage of Williams was credited with helping Williams win the National League's Rookie of the Year Award.[43]

Friedman's pitching analysis style has been described as "combin[ing] the knowledge of someone who studied pitching to help his young son improve with the wonderment of a fan who can’t help but plotz at how major leaguers are capable of manipulating a baseball".[44]

Friedman was included in the Topps 2020 Allen And Ginter Baseball Card series due to his contributions to Baseball as a pitching analyst.[45]

Friedman's PitchingNinja Twitter account was recognized by ESPN as helping to drive change in baseball's culture by adding flair and individuality to the game,[46] and was #30 on the "67 Things Baseball Fans Can Be Grateful for in 2020" in Sports Illustrated.[47]

At the 2021 MLB All-Star Game, Friedman convinced Liam Hendriks to throw a knuckleball in exchange for a donation to charity, which was considered the sixth biggest All-Star moment.[48] Trevor Bauer's Watch Momentum company sponsored Friedman's Pitching Ninja show on YouTube for a few months during the 2021 season, before Friedman and Momentum ended the sponsorship relationship in mid-2021.[49] Friedman was awarded the "2020 Game Changer of the Year Award" from Lost Boyz Inc. for his support of their mission of helping inner-city youth through baseball.[50]

For the 2022 season, Friedman joined the Peacock MLB team as lead Pitching Analyst on their broadcasts.[51][52] He also was named MLB Pitching Analyst for Fox Sports.[53] Friedman is a regular contributor to Fox Sports, writing about pitching, where he breaks down pitchers and their pitches, such as Shohei Ohtani and his new sinker[54] He is also the lead Pitching Analyst for FanDuel.[55] Friedman's interview with Nolan Ryan was featured on the Blu-ray edition of the 2022 documentary "Facing Nolan".[56]

In January 2024, MLB announced that it was officially adding a "sword" stat to Statcast in honor of PitchingNinja calling weak swings a "sword".[57]

PitchingNinja's FlatGround accounts

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In January 2019, Friedman started the FlatGround app with a focus on pitchers getting recruited and scouted through social media.[58][59][60] Friedman's FlatGround app account has been cited as a new development in baseball recruiting and scouting.[61][62][63] FlatGround is followed by many MLB executives, which allows players to get free exposure.[64]

Some of the professional pitchers who have credited Friedman and FlatGround with helping them get noticed by Major League affiliated organizations include: Justin Topa,[65] Taylor Grover,[66] Chris Dula,[67] Chris Nunn,[68][69][70] Nathan Patterson,[71] Tyler Gillies,[72] Casey Crosby,[73] D. J. Snelten[74] and Jordan Brink.[75][76][77][78][79][80][81] In August 2019, Nathan Patterson's signing received coverage by national publications, where Patterson mentioned that the exposure he received due to a viral video[82][83] on FlatGround app and PitchingNinja assisted him in signing a professional contract with the Oakland Athletics.[84][85][86][87][88][89] Patterson's signing has been referred to as Friedman's "most public success story."[90] In 2022, Friedman's tweet of independent league pitcher Logan Sawyer was credited with helping get him signed by the St. Louis Cardinals.[91]

Additionally, in early 2019, a young baseball player, Jax Nystrom, who was highlighted on Friedman's FlatGroundBats account was contacted by Alex Bregman to hit with him in Spring Training, which was featured on MLB.com as well as other publications.[92][93][94]

References

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  1. ^ Orgera, Scott. "'Pitching Ninja' Rob Friedman Launches FlatGround To Help Pitchers Learn And Be Seen". Forbes. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  2. ^ Bogage, Jacob (January 14, 2019). "PitchingNinja is turning Twitter into a Digital Scouting Showcase, MLB teams have noticed". The Washington Post.
  3. ^ Friedman, Rob [@PitchingNinja] (March 29, 2019). "Hey look, I'm on ESPN. 🔥 [And, for the record, I'm not an "It"... 👀 Matt Vasgersian] 😂 https://t.co/d4jxlkdVGq" (Tweet). Retrieved June 14, 2021 – via Twitter.
  4. ^ Diamond, Jared (August 15, 2019). "A Regular Guy Hit 96 MPH in a Speed-Pitch Booth. A Viral Video Turned Him Into a Prospect". Wall Street Journal.
  5. ^ Smith, Patrick (August 15, 2019). "Baseballs Pitching Ninja on Big Law, Spotting Talent". American Lawyer.
  6. ^ "Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  7. ^ Schonbrun, Zach (March 11, 2021). "The Lawyer Who Became a (Pitching) Ninja". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  8. ^ Alexander, Wilson (April 5, 2019). "Cole Henry inspires confidence in his LSU teammates less than 2 months into his freshman season".
  9. ^ "Pitching Ninja - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  10. ^ Masnick, Mike (April 18, 2018). "Stupid Copyright: MLB Shuts Down Twitter Account Of Guy Who Shared Cool MLB Gifs". Techdirt. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  11. ^ "Will Major League Baseball ever understand social media?". SI.com. April 18, 2018. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  12. ^ Passan, Jeff (April 17, 2018). "Twitter Suspends Pitching Guru, MLB Considers Loosening Social Media Restrictions". Yahoo Sports.
  13. ^ Bogage, Jacob (April 24, 2018). "PitchingNinja is back in Baseball's Good Graces, Here's What He Learned". Washington Post.
  14. ^ "@PitchingNinja Vs. MLB: Lessons From A Twitter Showdown". www.wbur.org. June 22, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  15. ^ "Jordan Hicks throws unhittable sliders vs. Pirates". MLB.com. April 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  16. ^ "Satchel Paige throws eephus pitch to batter". MLB.com. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  17. ^ "Comparing McHugh's 'Matrix' moves". MLB.com. April 17, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  18. ^ "Edwin Diaz's fastball and slider are unhittable". MLB.com. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  19. ^ "Chris Sale dominates Royals". MLB.com. June 6, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  20. ^ Inside Pitch magazine [@insidepitchmag] (April 23, 2019). "We tracked down @PitchingNinja, who spends his days as a tech attorney and moonlights as a Pitching Contributing Analyst for @MLB and @ESPN, to learn how he got the nickname and find out more about his one-of-a-kind story: https://t.co/EnaSYJRDbZ https://t.co/tsGq60Ti4D" (Tweet). Retrieved June 14, 2021 – via Twitter.
  21. ^ "Your ultimate guide to MLB's October bullpens: Stars, surprises, rankings and more". ESPN.com. October 4, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  22. ^ "Cespedes Family BBQ duo talks Pitching Ninja, their baseball journey and 'ChangeUp' show". www.sportingnews.com. July 16, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  23. ^ Céspedes Family BBQ [@CespedesBBQ] (October 1, 2019). "🚨THE NASTIEST PITCHES OF THE YEAR WITH @PITCHINGNINJA HIMSELF🚨 5️⃣Oliver Drake broke physics 🤯 4️⃣Jordan Hicks brought the 🔥 3️⃣Luis Castillo ends a man ⚰️ 2️⃣Alvarado's devilish two-seam 😈 1️⃣Gerrit Cole is the nastiest pitcher in baseball 🏆 https://t.co/S8q97lSE4j" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2021 – via Twitter.
  24. ^ Friedman, Rob [@PitchingNinja] (October 2, 2019). "My ESPN PitchingNinja segment on Manaea. 😊 https://t.co/dvbJgdUgnI" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 3, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2021 – via Twitter.
  25. ^ Friedman, Rob [@PitchingNinja] (July 15, 2019). "ESPN Sunday Night Baseball PitchingNinja Segment on David Price. https://t.co/prq52f73ry" (Tweet). Retrieved June 14, 2021 – via Twitter.
  26. ^ "'Pitching Ninja' breaks down his favorite Giants pitchers". NBCS Bay Area. January 2, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  27. ^ Adler, Lindsey (July 20, 2018). "The PitchingNinja Gives Fans Insight into the Game and Helps Major Leaguers Steal Each Other's Grips". The Athletic.
  28. ^ "'Pitching Ninja' examines his favorite A's pitchers". NBCS Bay Area. January 3, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  29. ^ "Who throws MLB's nastiest curveballs and sliders?". SI.com. June 13, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  30. ^ "Rays-Astros: A pair of Charlie Morton pitches have Twitter buzzing". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  31. ^ Adler, Lindsey. "The 'Pitching Ninja' gives fans insight into the game..." The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  32. ^ McHugh, Collin [@Collin_McHugh] (July 29, 2018). "I saw this @PitchingNinja clip this morning and tried to emulate it. #AlwaysBeLearning https://t.co/5pfbs9f9CQ https://t.co/yE8swU1k1q" (Tweet). Retrieved June 14, 2021 – via Twitter.
  33. ^ Rosecrans, C. Trent. "Have a dominant pitch? Trevor Bauer will take that, thank..." The New York Times. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  34. ^ Rosecrans, C. Trent. "Have a dominant pitch? Trevor Bauer will take that, thank..." The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  35. ^ Biertempfel, Rob. "The Pirates have West Virginia's Alek Manoah on their draft..." The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  36. ^ "Sunday Notes: Eugenio Suárez Added Power and Sterling Sharp is a Pitching Ninja". FanGraphs Baseball. July 29, 2018. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  37. ^ "Pitcher got a nasty new slider ... from Twitter". MLB.com. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  38. ^ Friedman, Rob [@PitchingNinja] (August 24, 2020). "Yu Darvish on why his slider was so good yesterday. https://t.co/sB5ymoYqFl" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2021 – via Twitter.
  39. ^ "Irvin unveils new cutter he learned on social media". MLB.com. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  40. ^ "Pitching Ninja - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  41. ^ Carig, Marc. "The legend of 'Airbender': Devin Williams' — and baseball's — most absurd pitch". The New York Times. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  42. ^ "Dodgers must contend with the unhittable 'Airbender' pitch of Brewers' Devin Williams". Los Angeles Times. September 29, 2020. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  43. ^ "Brewers: 3 Moments That Made Devin Williams The Rookie Of The Year". Reviewing the Brew. November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  44. ^ "As Twitter suspends a pitching guru, MLB considers loosening its social-media restrictions". sports.yahoo.com. April 18, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  45. ^ Diunte, Nick. "'Pitching Ninja' Rob Friedman's Topps 2020 Allen And Ginter Baseball Card Gives Him A Taste Of The Big Leauges". Forbes. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  46. ^ "MLB players who break the internet: The most meme-worthy on each likely playoff team". ESPN.com. September 25, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  47. ^ Staff, SI MLB (November 26, 2020). "67 Things Baseball Fans Should Be Grateful for in 2020". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  48. ^ "Hugs, homers, dives: Top 10 All-Star moments". MLB.com. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  49. ^ "Creators". Momentum. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  50. ^ "Lost Boyz Inc". www.lostboyzinc.org. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  51. ^ "Watch NOW: White Sox-Red Sox on Peacock and NBC". MLB.com. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  52. ^ "RED SOX HOST WHITE SOX AT FENWAY PARK IN FIRST MLB SUNDAY LEADOFF GAME THIS SUNDAY, MAY 8 LIVE AT 11:30 A.M. ET ON PEACOCK & NBC". NBC Sports Pressbox. May 4, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  53. ^ "Pitching Ninja ranks Five Filthiest Pitches of Week". FOX Sports. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  54. ^ "Shohei Ohtani's new toy: Breaking down his filthy turbo sinker". FOX Sports. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  55. ^ "FanDuel partners with PitchingNinja". Twitter. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  56. ^ Facing Nolan Blu-ray, retrieved January 6, 2023
  57. ^ "The nastiest pitches in baseball end with ... a sword". MLB.com. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  58. ^ Orgera, Scott (January 4, 2018). "PitchingNinja Rob Friedman Launches Flatground to help ptichers learn and be seen". Forbes.
  59. ^ Bogage, Jacob (January 14, 2018). "Pitching Ninja is turning Twitter into a Digital Scouting Showcase, MLB Teams have noticed=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/01/14/pitching-ninja-is-turning-twitter-into-digital-scouting-showcase-mlb-teams-have-noticed/". Washington Post.
  60. ^ "'Pitching Ninja' Rob Friedman creates free twitter service to help developing pitchers". USA TODAY High School Sports. January 6, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  61. ^ Weiner, Eli (March 7, 2019). "How Twitter changed the baseball recruiting landscape". The RamPage. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  62. ^ Bogage, Jacob (January 14, 2019). "PitchingNinja is Turning Twitter into a Digital Scouting Showcase, MLB teams have noticed". Washington Post.
  63. ^ jaivers1 (February 4, 2019). "Rob Friedman's New FlatGround Platform is Helping Young Pitchers Get Noticed and Get Better". Evolution Metrix. Retrieved August 19, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  64. ^ "Former Giants prospect using social media to make comeback". NBCS Bay Area. November 26, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  65. ^ Lesniewski, Kyle (April 5, 2019). "Milwaukee Brewers sign minor league pitchers Johan Belisario, Justin Topa". Brew Crew Ball. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  66. ^ Cooper, JJ (December 14, 2018). "Taylor Grover's 'Perfectly Crazy' Year Ends With Baltimore Orioles". Baseball America.
  67. ^ "Throw 102 and Need a Contract? @PitchingNinja Can Help You". SportTechie. December 20, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  68. ^ "How Chris Nunn's quest to go viral with 99-mph video helped him earn a shot at MLB redemption". CBSSports.com. January 31, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  69. ^ Sanders, Ryan (April 18, 2019). "Los Angeles Dodgers Sign Twitter and Flatground sensation, Chris Nunn". Call to the Pen. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  70. ^ "Rangers sign lefty after 99-mph video 'blew up'". MLB.com. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  71. ^ Patterson, Nathan (August 2, 2019). "I can't thank @PitchingNinja and @FlatgroundApp enough for help on getting me exposure and on the map! Rob is changing the way players can be seen and get opportunities!". @npatterson_12. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  72. ^ Lesniewski, Kyle (March 2, 2019). "Milwaukee Brewers to sign Canadian pitcher Tyler Gillies".
  73. ^ "Dodgers Sign Intriguing Left-Hander Casey Crosby". Dodgers Nation. December 5, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  74. ^ "Ex-Giants prospect using social media to make comeback". NBCS Bay Area. November 26, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  75. ^ "Throw 102 and Need a Contract? @PitchingNinja Can Help You". SportTechie. December 20, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  76. ^ Diamond, Jared (August 8, 2019). "A Regular Guy Hit 96 MPH in a Speed-Pitch Booth. A Viral Video Turned Him Into a Prospect". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  77. ^ "Pitching Ninja on helping A's Patterson gain attention". NBCS Bay Area. August 2, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  78. ^ Weaver, Levi (June 5, 2018). "Chris Nunn and his 99 mph fastball are the latest success..." The Athletic. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  79. ^ "Rangers sign lefty after 99-mph video 'blew up'". MLB.com. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  80. ^ Brink, Jordan [@jordanbrink_] (August 15, 2019). "Words cannot express how grateful I am for @PitchingNinja! On the last limb of my baseball career he did all he could to get my videos seen by the right people. Thank you, Rob! I owe you an unpayable debt! What you are doing for the game of baseball is absolutely incredible!" (Tweet). Retrieved June 14, 2021 – via Twitter.
  81. ^ "Rangers pitcher, viral sensation Chris Nunn inspired by mother's fight". WFAA. March 3, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  82. ^ Fan threw a 96 mph fastball in a speed pitch challenge. Now he's in the MLB - CNN Video, August 2, 2019, retrieved September 17, 2019
  83. ^ Grathoff, Pete (August 8, 2019). "Blue Valley grad Nathan Patterson's deal with the A's involved more than a viral video". The Kansas City Star.
  84. ^ Diamond, Jared (August 8, 2019). "A Regular Guy Hit 96 MPH in a Speed-Pitch Booth. A Viral Video Turned Him Into a Prospect". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  85. ^ Davis, Scott (February 12, 2019). "A 23-year-old who was working as a landscaper 3 years ago describes the whirlwind journey from going viral in a pitching booth to signing an MLB contract". Business Insider. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  86. ^ "Fan who hit 96 on stadium radar gun signs MLB contract". SI.com. August 2, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  87. ^ Ostler, By Scott (August 13, 2019). "'This is real': How A's Nathan Patterson went from sales to slinging fastballs - SFChronicle.com". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  88. ^ "Dream come true for A's golden-armed phenom". The Mercury News. August 3, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  89. ^ Lockard, Melissa. "A's 'roll the dice' with minor-league signing Nathan..." The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  90. ^ Diamond, Jared (August 8, 2019). "A Regular Guy Hit 96 MPH in a Speed-Pitch Booth. A Viral Video Turned Him Into a Prospect". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  91. ^ Guerrero, Daniel (December 8, 2022). "Independent ball success, advice from wife leads Logan Sawyer to opportunity with Cardinals". STLtoday.com. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  92. ^ "'Great swing': 9-year-old flies to Florida for hitting tips from Alex Bregman". USA TODAY High School Sports. February 23, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  93. ^ url=https://www.mlb.com/cut4/alex-bregman-gives-hitting-tips-to-young-player/c-304311122
  94. ^ "'Great swing': Bregman tweet thrills young fan". MLB.com. Retrieved August 19, 2019.

Further reading

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