LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Tyler Flowers used a jumbo-sized catcher’s mitt Wednesday when he caught knuckleballer R.A. Dickey for the first time, and the Braves will take other special measures when hitters face him in live batting practice in the first week of spring training.
Rather than risk having their lineup regulars mess up their timing at the plate facing Dickey’s knuckleball, the Braves expect to let minor leaguers face him when the former Cy Young Award winner throws batting practice before Grapefruit League games begin next week.
“Probably have the young guys face him,” hitting coach Kevin Seitzer said. “I don’t want any of the regular guys to do it. (Dickey) just needs to get his work in. It’s only for a few days that before we start games when they have live BPs. He’ll throw once, maybe twice, I’ll guess. … The young guys will get a kick out of trying to hit that thing.”
That thing is the knuckleball that saved Dickey’s career in 2006, when he had a 6-plus ERA in parts of five seasons as a starter and reliever with the Rangers before deciding to become a full-time knuckleballer.
Ten years later, he’s 42 and starting spring training with his sixth major league team, having totaled at least 32 starts and 208 innings in five consecutive seasons before losing his rotation spot late last season with the Blue Jays and finishing with 29 starts and 169 2/3 innings while going 10-15 with a 4.46 ERA.
The Braves, who had great success with knuckleballer Phil Niekro into his mid-40s, believe that Dickey can revert to his pre-2016 form, when he posted ERAs of 3.91 and 3.71 in consecutive seasons for Toronto in the tough American League East. The Braves signed Dickey to a one-year, $8 million contract that includes a 2018 option.
In the 2012 feature film “Knuckleball,” Dickey pointed out that some of the greatest knuckleballers had their best seasons in their late 30s and into their 40s, and said he saw no reason he couldn’t do the same. On Wednesday, before the first workout for Braves pitchers and catchers, he said he still felt that way.
“All the components in the equation are there, I just have to be able to repeat it,” Dickey said. “Everything’s here, and I have more experience — and I’m back in the National League, that’s always helpful. But for the most part, it’s just about making a pitch. And I feel like I’m more than capable to do that 120 times a game.”
The Braves faced him plenty in the past when he was with the Mets from 2010-12, including his Cy Young season in ’12 when Dickey went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA and set career highs in strikeouts (230) and innings (233 2/3).
“I followed him a lot, watched him closely during his Cy Young year,” said Bartolo Colon, the other 40-something former Cy Young Award winner (and ex-Met) signed by the Braves for 2017. “I think it’s great to have R.A.’s experience on the team, especially (a team) that’s so young. It’s great to have him, myself and some of the other veterans here to help the young guys out.”
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