Landon Dakota Knack (born July 15, 1997) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2024.

Career

Knack attended

Science Hill High School Science Hill High School is a public high school in Johnson City, Tennessee, United States. Campus The Science Hill/ Liberty Bell/ Freedom Hall complex includes multiple athletic fields, large parking lots, and a -mile walking track that encircle ...

Johnson City, Tennessee Johnson City is a city in Washington, Carter, and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, mostly in Washington County. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 71,046, making it Tennessee's eighth-most populous cit ...

, and

East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. It was historically part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee under the Tennessee Board of Regents, but since 2016, ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

East Tennessee State Buccaneers The East Tennessee State Buccaneers are the 17 intercollegiate athletics teams that represent East Tennessee State University (ETSU), located in Johnson City, Tennessee. ETSU's teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, socce ...

. He was drafted by the

in the second round of the

2020 MLB draft The 2020 Major League Baseball draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season standings. In ad ...

. He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Knack made his professional debut in 2021 with the

Great Lakes Loons The Great Lakes Loons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Midland, Michigan, and play their home games at Dow Diamond, which opened in April 2007. Hist ...

and was promoted to the

Tulsa Drillers The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club. Stadium The Drillers play at ONEOK Field (pronounc ...

during the season. Between the two levels, he was 7–1 with a 3.18 ERA in 16 appearances (11 starts) and struck out 82 batters while only walking eight. He was selected to play for the

Glendale Desert Dogs The Glendale Desert Dogs are a baseball team that plays in the West Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. The ballpark is also the spring training facility of the Chicago White S ...

of the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

after the season. In 2022, he made 17 starts for Tulsa, with a 2–10 record and 5.01 ERA. Knack returned to Tulsa to start the 2023 season, making 12 starts with a 2–0 record, 2.20 ERA and 61 strikeouts in innings. On June 17, he was promoted to the Triple-A

Oklahoma City Dodgers The Oklahoma City Comets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and play their ho ...

, where he made 10 starts, with a 3–1 record, 2.93 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 43 innings. Knack was added to the Dodgers 40-man roster on November 14, 2023, in order to be protected from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

and he made the Dodgers'

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent year ...

roster for the 2024 season. However, he did not pitch in either of the Dodgers two games in

Seoul, South Korea Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

as part of the

MLB World Tour Major League Baseball (MLB) has played multiple regular season games outside of the United States and Canada, where all MLB teams are currently or historically based. Beginning with the 2023 season, these games are branded as MLB World Tour. Lo ...

and was optioned back to Oklahoma City for the start of the minor league season. Knack drew the start for Oklahoma City on opening day and struck out six in five scoreless innings. He was promoted to the majors again and made his debut as the starting pitcher against the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

on April 17, allowing two runs on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts. His first MLB strikeout was of Nick Senzel. He picked up his first major league win on April 24, also against the Nationals. Overall, Knack was 3–5 with a 3.65 ERA in 15 games (12 starts) with 69 strikeouts in the majors and 4–3 with a 3.71 ERA in 14 games (12 starts) in the minors. Knack made the postseason roster for the Dodgers and pitched one scoreless inning in the National League Division Series (NLDS). However, he struggled in his next appearance, in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS), allowing five runs on five hits and three walks in only two innings. In the

2024 World Series The 2024 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2024 Major League Baseball season, 2024 season. The 120th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (b ...

, Knack pitched four innings in Game 4, allowing one run on two hits and one walk, while striking out two. The Dodgers won the series in five games over the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knack, Landon 1997 births Living people Baseball players from Tennessee East Tennessee State Buccaneers baseball players Glendale Desert Dogs players Great Lakes Loons players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Oklahoma City Baseball Club players Oklahoma City Comets players Oklahoma City Dodgers players Sportspeople from Johnson City, Tennessee Tulsa Drillers players