Unearthed college video proves Yankees' Luke Weaver has always been the same wild man

Adam Weinrib

Division Series - New York Yankees v Kansas City Royals - Game 4 / Ed Zurga/GettyImages

Once upon a time, New York Yankees firebreathing closer Luke Weaver wasn't even a closer! I believe that long-ago time is known colloquially as "August."

Weaver's journey from top prospect starter to struggling young MLB arm to converted reliever to short reliever to postseason weapon has been a bumpy ride, but the right-hander likely didn't let any of the slings and arrows faze him too much. After all, anyone who's ever watched a Weaver interview knows the man is a walking soundbite, whether he knows the word "inkling" or not.

As it turns out, Weaver's quirkiness isn't from a faucet he turned on once he reached the New York spotlight. A recently unearthed video proves that Weaver was the same quote machine during his time as a top draft prospect with the Florida State Seminoles.

Before he was a Cardinals rookie or a key piece of the Diamondbacks' Paul Goldschmidt trade or a Yankees flyer, he was a certified goofball -- as well as someone who had trouble acknowledging that he was even a quote-unquote "pitcher." Take a moment, if you will, to walk through Weaver's World.

Yankees closer Luke Weaver's 2014 Florida State video is (predictably) hilarious

The long ago hype matches Weaver's current reality; though the Yankees have overused him a bit in recent weeks, they wouldn't have survived the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals without him. His ninth inning in Game 1 may someday get lost in the shuffle of a lengthy postseason, but he turned an up-and-down roller coaster ride with the most lead changes in postseason history into a 1-2-3 low-stress ninth, including a beautiful called strike three on Bobby Witt Jr.

Is he the game's greatest current reliever? MLB Network thinks so, and that's good enough for us. He's certainly the most closer-y closer, in terms of piling up the quirks, a reality that nobody foresaw back in August. Not even Weaver.

But, just know that while watching Weaver look calm, cool, and collected, a loud screech is always about one second away from escaping his throat. This throwback video just confirms what we knew all along: there's something wild below this wiry dude's surface, just waiting to bellow.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard for 6 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast thrice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for 10 years. He was also a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.