As a Yankee fan surrounded by Met fans, I remember joking with my friends that R.A. Dickey would be the next Cy Young contender out of Queens. I also remember the day Dickey was called up, and thinking how desperate the Mets must be to call up a 35 year old knuckleballer. Aside from his personal health battles, Dickey was always a guy I’d go out of my way to watch. If I didn’t have Yankee blood running through my veins, maybe my knuckleball fix would have been satisfied by Tim Wakefield. Alas, watching Dickey work brings my mind to the core of pitching, it makes me forget that I’m watching a Met game, and reminds me that baseball is a game of physics. Spotting a knuckleball move is one of the best parts of baseball, and I can’t wait to see how the Yankees approach Dickey on Sunday.
Through the 2012 season, Dickey has an 11-1 record, a 2.00 ERA, a 2.72 FIP, 6.1 H/9, 1.9 HR/9, and a 9.4 K/9. In the last four games, Dickey has pitched 3 complete game shutouts, 2 of which were 1 hitters. In his last 48.2 innings, Dickey has a 0.18 ERA, a 3.88 H/9, a 0.92 BB/9, and a 11.65 K/9. Needless to say, Dickey has been the best starter in baseball this year, and at 37 years old, it’s hard not to root for him. PITCHf/x and TexasLeaguers.com have the data.
| Pitch | Count | Selection | Velocity | V Mvt | H Mvt | Spin Angle | Spin Rate | Whiff Rate |
| Knuckleball | 1136 | 82.9% | 77.0 | 0.81 | 0.13 | 188 | 917 | 14.0% |
| Sinker | 217 | 15.8% | 82.8 | 5.04 | -8.76 | 241 | 1,877 | 6.0% |
| Forkball | 17 | 1.2% | 63.0 | 0.63 | 2.05 | 46 | 585 | 29.4% |
Starting with the sinker, you’ll see that Dickey isn’t overpowering anyone with his velocity. As a pitcher that specializes in deceiving hitters, the sinker is usually the straightest pitch he throws, but according to Brooks Baseball’s player card, he’s still maintained a 6.16% ground ball rate. The drawback on this pitch is a 4.11% line drive rate, which shows one of the few vulnerabilities in his repertoire . His least used pitch is the forkball, which is classified by Gameday as a curveball. The pitch is generally released from a higher release point, at a slower velocity, and with vertical movement similar to a splitter, but horizontal movement similar to a curveball from a lefthander. As for the knuckleball, the velocity of 77 mph velocity is quite high, and likely a big part of the high whiff rate. Understanding the movement of a knuckleball can’t be done with averages, and the best way to see the effectiveness of his knuckleball is to look at a spread chart.
The knuckleball has a tremendous range of movement, ranging around a foot area of the no-spin pitch origin. The unpredictable movement from the knuckleball accounts for the inability of the hitter to make proper contact with the pitch. The fact that Dickey’s been so successful preventing walks this season is certainly an anomaly amongst these types of pitchers, and some have even speculated that he has more control of the pitch than we’ve seen in the past. Perhaps the velocity on the pitch, coupled with a greater spin rate, makes the Dickey more accurate than guys like Wakefield. Through the knuckleball, he’s kept walks down and K’s up, sporting a 9.4 K/9 that ranks 6th in the National League.
The Yankees get to face RA Dickey and his knuckleball on Sunday, and it’ll be one of the most anticipated match ups of the year. The game starts at 8:00 pm EST Sunday on ESPN.
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Awesome stuff Mike, I’m definitely curious to see if Dickey can keep this up over the course of the season (though hopefully not against the Yankees this weekend).
Nice video, Michael. You heighten my anticipation for the match. Let’s hope the warmth and humidity loosens up CC.
Sigh, Dickey is not throwing a forkball. Dickey hasn’t thrown a curve/fork/etc. since joining the Mets, but this year the eephus knuckler (low 60s to 50s) has been MLBAM classified as a curveball.
(Dickey does have a really rare change-up, but you rarely see one per game, so it’s not worth talking about)
You can call a pitch whatever term you want. The pitch classified by gameday is not a junk pitch, it has consistent movement from a consistent release point. It moves like other forkballs, and with Dickey’s history of throwing the fork, this is my assumption. He might have another name for it, but the movement of the pitch slightly down and away from right handed hitters is whats important.
It does not have consistent movement – I have no idea what you’re talking about. (Also Forkballs generally aren’t 20-30 MPHs slower than a fastball.). And the grip is still the knuckleball grip,
If you look at the clusters (Not just the classified pitches), you won’t see any forkball or curveball cluster (There’s a reason why HarryPav’s classifications on BrooksBaseball have on curves. I’d post a picture, but I don’t think I can in the comments here).
I posted the pic on twitter in a reply to you.