San Diego Padres pitcher Matt Waldron has found success with his knuckleball this season, and one particular pitch from Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels helped illustrate why.
Waldron allowed just two hits and one earned run over 6 2/3 innings in a 2-1 loss to the Angels. One 77-mph knuckleball that Waldron threw to L.A. outfielder Taylor Ward had some absolutely insane movement on it.
Many people have compared Waldron’s knuckleball to the one former Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey used to throw. The late Tim Wakefield, another famous knuckleballer, had more of a floating pitch that usually hovered in the mid-60s. Like Dickey, Waldron’s knuckleball creeps up near 80 mph, which makes it even more difficult to track at times.
Waldron is 3-5 this season with a 3.98 ERA in 12 starts. He has 64 strikeouts in 63 1/3 innings.
Between Waldron’s impressive knuckleball and a similar pitch we saw from a position player recently, it seems like the knuckleball is here to stay for a while longer.
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