'We're hoping to go viral': Tantasqua pitchers create Instagram account for bullpen reviews

STURBRIDGE — Need a bullpen assessment?

These two pitchers from the Tantasqua Regional baseball team have you covered.

To stay active when they’re not pitching this spring, Jack Alexander and Miles Blake decided to start an Instagram account that gives the “greatest bullpen reviews” of baseball fields located across Worcester County.

Their name: Ramblin’ Boys Bullpen Reviews.

Coming to a pitching mound near you.

“We’re just trying to show people America’s pastime,” Alexander said. “You can have some fun with the game and the game will love you back.”

“The sky is the limit,” Blake said. “We’re hoping we can be seen by a lot of other teams, even people we aren’t going to play. We’re hoping to go viral and make TV. We really want to inspire people.”

Just your friendly neighborhood southpaws

Alexander last played baseball in seventh grade.

But coming into his final spring of high school, the 18-year-old Tantasqua senior decided to kick the can one more time on the diamond and join the Warriors baseball team.

“I’ve been around the block, I’ve seen a lot of ballparks,” Alexander said. “I’ve never lost the love of the game. I grew up playing baseball, I grew up on the bump.”

Miles Blake has been playing baseball since he ditched diapers.

The 16-year-old Tantasqua junior went 9-2 last spring with a 0.34 ERA and 87 strikeouts en route to being named a T&G Hometeam Super Teamer. The dynamic lefty is already committed to pitch at Northeastern University.

“He’s just the ultimate competitor,” Tantasqua pitching coach Sam Knox said. “He’s the perfect kid to coach.”

Yet, while Alexander and Blake aren’t on the mound this spring, the pair of “friendly neighborhood southpaws” want to have something to look forward to for each game.

Insert the Ramblin’ Boys Bullpen Reviews.

“We want to kind of grow it and go out with a blaze for Jack’s senior year,” Blake said. “We just want to try to have some fun.”

Ramblers learn on the run

To kick off their social media campaign, the ramblin’ reviewers evaluated their home bullpen at William Emrich Field in Sturbridge.

“We got this nice kind of dirt, kind of gravel, not ideal mound conditions, but we make it work here,” Blake said. “(We’re) blue-collar men, (so) Jack, (you throw the) honorary first pitch.”

Ramblin Boys Bullpen Reviews on Instagram

Alexander then tossed a red football into the net behind the bullpen’s home plate before he and his cohort rated the bullpen on a scale from one to 10.

“Home is where you make it, so I’m going to give it a 10,” Alexander said.

“I’m going to agree, too,” Blake said. “Heart is where the home is.”

The ramblers are learning on the run.

“I was just happy it was clean when I first saw it,” Tantasqua coach Jon Leroux said. “I was like ‘Oh God, is this going to be bad.’ But no, they’ve been good, they have fun with it, so I’m OK with it. They can do whatever they want as long as it’s clean and they have fun.”

Two days after posting their initial video, the pair of left-handed pitchers hit the road for their first review of an away bullpen at St. John’s. Between licking the dirt and tossing an actual baseball — Alexander and Blake upped the ante in Shrewsbury.

Now, with 156 followers and five total videos on Instagram, the Ramblin’ Bullpen Boys are finding their groove with the reviews.

“We want to get some eyes on us and entertain the folks in Worcester County,” Alexander said.

“The Ramblin’ Boys Bullpen Reviews have clearly been a hit,” Knox said.

‘Don’t give your heart to a ramblin’ man’

On Wednesday, Blake found himself on the bump for his first start of the spring.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out 10 in a 7-0 victory over visiting Millbury. The win improved the Warriors to 2-0.

“He’s a competitor,” Leroux said. “He works all year round for moments like this to be able to go out there and throw seven innings and get wins for us. That’s everything you want in a No. 1 starter.”

“He absolutely shoved today,” Alexander said.

As teammates Brandon Phillips (1 for 3, run, 2 RBI) and Colm McGrath (2 for 4, run) raked the infield dirt and gathered their belongings, Alexander and Blake made their way over to the visitors’ bullpen at Tantasqua for their latest review.

That’s where Blake dropped his first reference to the 1974 song "I’m a Ramblin’ Man’" by Waylon Jennings — the inspiration for the name of their Instagram account.

“That’s what we try to do when we’re on the mound,” Blake said. “Don’t give your heart to us.”

From Sturbridge to Northbridge, and everywhere else between, Tantasqua pitchers Jack Alexander and Miles Blake have their hearts set on giving bullpen reviews.

Where that journey takes them is anybody’s guess.

“We’re going to ride this thing until the wheels fall off,” Alexander said.

“More shenanigans to come,” Blake said. “We have some more tomfoolery under our belts.”

Ramblin’ on, boys.

—Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Tantasqua's Jack Alexander, Miles Blake perform bullpen reviews on Instagram