Wakefield vs. Dickey: Battle of the knuckleball

Fangraphs takes a look at Lord Dickey's knuckler vs. Tim Wakefield's and why Dickey gets more grounders. Short, yet interesting.
Especially when you consider Dickey is trying to learn a slower knuckleball

about 1 year ago EMSfan9 6 comments 0 recs |

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Didn't Garik conclude that pitch height has no impact on

how good the knuckler is, how many strikeouts/groundballs/flyballs it induces?

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

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by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 10, 2011 8:06 PM EST via mobile reply actions

something to that effect

according to this…speed does

Enjoying what may be the final season of two of my favorite Mets in Blue and Orange: Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran

by EMSfan9 on Mar 10, 2011 8:24 PM EST up reply actions

The thing that confuses me is that I don't think speed on any other pitch type induces more grounders.

We usually correlate flame throwers with flyball tendencies if anything.

by FrancoTAU on Mar 11, 2011 12:39 AM EST up reply actions

It makes sense, if you think about it, with the knuckleball

If it’s slower, and it’s not fluttering around all that much, batters have more time to gauge it, and swing for the fences. And, if it’s not fluttering too well, since it’s slower, the batter is more likely to connect with it well enough to give it elevation. If it’s faster, and it’s not fluttering around all that much, it still has the extra velocity to it to make it that much more difficult for batters to get a good piece of it.. 60 MPH (Wakefield) and 75 MPH (Dickey) make a huge difference, I guess.

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.

AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 453 posts (10/03/10)

by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 11, 2011 1:56 AM EST up reply actions