BUTLER TWP — Bouncing it off the plate, flipping it behind his back, twirling it around like a baton ... Alex Ziegler can do plenty of tricks with a baseball bat.

And a lot of people have seen said tricks.

“Between Tik-Tok, Instagram, five or so appearances on ESPN’s SportsCenter, roughly half a billion or so,” Ziegler, 27, estimates. “It’s been crazy. I’ll be walking down a street in town and someone will point at me and say ‘you’re the guy on that video.’”

One person in particular who’s seen Ziegler’s tricky bat performances is Jessie Cole, general manager of the Savannah Bananas, a franchise in the collegiate summer baseball Coastal Plains League. The Bananas have a “pro” team as well that does a tour from now until the first week of May, playing a unique brand of baseball known as Banana Ball.

The latter team considers itself a baseball circus and, upon seeing Ziegler’s video, Cole wanted him to join the act.

“Ryan Cox is a player who tried out for our team and I recognized the facility Ryan was at on one of Alex’s videos,” Cole said. “I called him and asked if he knew Alex. He told me he knew him well and I told him I had to have him.

“As soon as I saw that video, I knew ... That’s a banana.”

Normally, players have to try out for the Bananas. Ziegler was offered a spot on the squad without having to try out.

The Bananas offer unique entertainment between innings and Ziegler will be performing his bat tricks as part of that entertainment.

Ziegler is a 2012 Butler graduate who went on to play college baseball at California (Pa.) University. He suffered a bad shoulder injury that curtailed his playing career there. He also played for the Butler Township team that reached the Little League regionals — one step shy of the Little League World Series — after winning the Pa. state title in 2006.

He’s umpired baseball for three years since, but said he hasn’t had a live at-bat in a game in eight years.

“I’m anxious to prove I still have it,” he said of his skills on a baseball diamond.

His skills in terms of bat tricks are unquestioned.

“I did my first video when I was 15,” Ziegler said of the tricks. “I’ve been doing that so long, it just comes natural. Some critics of my videos say it looks fake and I guess it looks that way because they happen so fast.

“The tricks are legit. They’ll see that at those Savannah games.”

Ziegler will be proving his baseball skills under rules he’s never played under before. Banana Ball rules include the batter being out if a fly ball is caught in the stands, a batter being allowed to steal first base at any time and taking an automatic strike if he steps out of the batter’s box.

If a batter walks, he immediately runs quickly to first base as all nine fielders must touch the ball before anyone can throw him out. Speedy runners have been known to circle the bases after receiving ball four. Games are decided by points, not runs. Whatever team score the most runs in an inning receives the point for that inning.

“In other words, every point the home team scores is a walk-off,” Cole said. “It’s very exciting.”

Games are stopped after two hours — the team with the most points wins — or when nine innings are played. Cole said nine-inning Banana Ball games have been played in an hour and 36 minutes.

“I’m looking forward to playing the game under those rules,” Ziegler said. “It looks like a blast. It’s entertainment and that’s what baseball should be.”

If a game is tied after two hours, the home team takes the field with a pitcher, catcher and one fielder. The fielder must be standing on the infield grass when the pitch is thrown. The batter puts the ball in play and must circle the bases before the ball is retrieved by the fielder and thrown to the plate.

If the batter scores, his team wins. If he doesn’t, the home team wins.

“I came up with these ideas,” Cole said. “I try to come up with 10 fresh ideas a day, constantly looking to improve our product.”

The Savannah Bananas have sold out every Banana Ball game since 2016. Bat tricks or not, Ziegler is excited about joining the craze.

“The atmosphere looks crazy at those games,” he said. “I only hope I can add to it.”

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