Japanese female knuckleballer Eri Yoshida received hands-on instruction from her idol Tim Wakefield at the Boston Red Sox's spring training complex Tuesday.
Yoshida began to work on her knuckleball after watching a video of him when she was in junior high school. Since then, her goal has been to become a pitcher like Wakefield.
Wakefield told Yoshida to try to throw with a stiff wrist, and his 18-year-old protege pitched knuckleballs from a sidearm release point.
''I was very impressed with how she threw and the knowledge she had of the knuckleball because she told me she was self-taught,'' said the 43-year-old Wakefield, who has won 189 games in the major leagues.
''The most important thing he said was to pitch with confidence,'' Yoshida said.
The 18-year-old recently received an offer from the California-based Chico Outlaws of the U.S. independent Golden Baseball League after pitching for the Yuma Scorpions in the Arizona Winter League.
Yoshida is scheduled to return to Japan on Friday and decide which team she will join in 2010, the Outlaws or the Mie Throw Arrows of the new independent Japan-Future League, after consulting with her parents.
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