The face of the franchise, Landon Knack is not — that distinction belongs to Dodgers stars Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw — but the rookie pitcher has been as much, if not more, of a social media presence than his more famous teammates in the weeks since the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.
What Knack, a 27-year-old right-hander from Johnson City, Tenn., described as a “whirlwind” month in the wake of the Nov. 1 downtown parade and Dodger Stadium celebration began with an invitation from the Tennessee Titans to watch their Nov. 10 game against the Chargers from a SoFi Stadium suite.
Knack was at Dodger Stadium with teammates Anthony Banda and Tony Gonsolin for a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway on Nov. 20. He returned to SoFi on Nov. 24, joining Banda and reliever Joe Kelly to show off the World Series trophy before a Sunday Night Football game between the Rams and Philadelphia Eagles.
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Knack watched the Nov. 30 USC-Notre Dame football game from the Coliseum sidelines with Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior, a former Trojan. On Dec. 1, Knack and fiancee Anisa Herlinda Garcia cruised down Hollywood Boulevard in the back of a vintage baby-blue convertible during the 92nd annual Hollywood Christmas Parade.
And last Friday, Knack rubbed elbows on the red carpet with the likes of singer-songwriters SZA, Meghan Trainor, Shaboozey, Paris Hilton and T-Pain on his way into the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball at the Intuit Dome.
“I kept saying yes [to requests from media relations staffers] because you never know if this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Knack, who pitched once in each of the three rounds of the playoffs, including a four-inning, one-run, two-hit stint in an 11-4 World Series Game 4 loss to the Yankees.
“There are so many guys who have played this game for 10-plus years and never get close to experiencing this. I’m a rookie, this was my first year in the league, but you never know if I’ll get to experience this again in my career, so I absolutely wanted to take advantage of it, to make some memories and just enjoy things.”
