The knuckleball is truly a lost art when it comes to big-league pitches. Gone are the days of pitchers like R.A. Dickey winning a Cy Young Award thanks to a devastating knuckleball.
These days, it’s all about velocity and movement (together). And knuckleballs are just a riskier pitch when you’re facing the most talented generation of MLB hitters we’ve seen. Still, there aren’t many pitches that are more satisfying to watch than an effective knuckleball.
Thankfully, we have Padres pitcher Matt Waldron to keep the knuckleball dream alive as MLB’s lone active knuckleball pitcher. He didn’t disappoint in Sunday’s exhibition against the Korea-based LG Twins. Just look at this pitch:
Waldron pitched 3.1 innings in relief in the Padres’ 5-4 win, and nothing topped that fourth-inning strikeout of former MLB utility player Austin Dean. You know you’ve won as a pitcher when you get that kind of reaction from a batter.
Dean seemed to think he was going to crush the pitch only to swing right through it. That’s when it’s clear a knuckleball pitcher is on his game — he’s basically playing tricks on the batters.
Fans also loved that reaction from Dean.
