NORTH PORT, Fla. -- When you cross paths with J.J. Niekro at Braves Minor League camp, it’s only natural to immediately ask whether he throws a knuckleball.

“I throw it a couple times in warmups every day just to dust it off, so it’s not sitting on the shelf,” Niekro said. “Right now, I can throw two or three out of 10 really well. If I took a while to practice, I could probably get it to seven or eight. Everywhere I go around here, people ask, ‘Do you throw a knuckleball?’ I kinda shrug it off for now. But maybe one day.”

It’s cool to see another Niekro pitching within the Braves’ organization. J.J.’s father, Joe, pitched in Atlanta from 1972-73, and his uncle, Phil, was one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history.

Now, 63 years after Phil began his Hall of Fame career in the Braves’ Minor League system, J.J. is attempting to rekindle a family tradition. The 24-year-old right-hander was an undrafted free agent who signed with the Braves after making two appearances for Frederick, Md., in the MLB Draft League last summer. He recorded 23 strikeouts and issued nine walks while posting a 2.76 ERA over 16 1/3 innings in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League.

As J.J. Niekro has spent this week at the club’s Spring Training complex, he has regularly seen pictures and tributes to his uncle Phil, who passed away on Dec. 27, 2020.

“It’s been a blast so far,” J.J. Niekro said. “The moment I got down here last year for rookie camp, I saw Phil Niekro everywhere on site. The [on-site dorm] room I was staying in actually had a picture of him right outside of the room. Some people are calling me Nieks and some people have called me Knucksie. I’m just carrying on his legend, really.”

• Knuckleball paved Phil Niekro's path to Hall

Phil Niekro’s journey to Cooperstown was guided by his mastery of the knuckleball, a pitch his father taught both him and Joe while they were growing up in Lansing, Ohio, a blue-collar town located about 60 miles west of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River.

“Even my aunt Phyllis [Phil and Joe’s sister] would catch knuckleballs in the backyard,” J.J. Niekro said. “She would say she could catch knuckleballs better than anybody else, which was really cool to hear. It was always fun growing up and hearing those stories.”

Phil Niekro (318) and Joe Niekro (221) combined to tally 539 wins, the highest combined total for siblings in MLB history. J.J. was just eight years old when his father passed away. But as he grew older and continued playing baseball, Uncle Phil was willing to pass on the family’s knuckleball recipe.

“[My uncle Phil] and my dad showed me growing up,” J.J. Niekro said. “It’s hard right now to go from fastball, slider, changeup to a knuckleball. But that’s my backup plan for sure.”

J.J. Niekro’s childhood included a few instances where he could comically educate some of his friends about his uncle, who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.

“Everybody was playing MLB The Show, and some kids my age didn’t know baseball from back then,” J.J. Niekro said. “So, they’d ask, ‘Do you have an uncle or grandfather or something? Because I played with him in The Show yesterday.’ They’d say he strikes [out] everybody because nobody can hit the knuckleball.”