Dickey Time!

Ever since Dennis Springer retired after the 2002 season, Tim Wakefield has stood as the game’s sole remaining knuckleball pitcher with a secure role in the major leagues. Charlie Haeger has bounced back and forth between the White Sox and their Triple-A affiliate in Chicago, but his inconsistency kept him from locking down a role in the windy city.

Don’t look now, but Wakefield may finally have someone to pass the torch too – R.A. Dickey spent the last few weeks leading up to the all-star break attempting to force the Mariners to keep him in their rotation. Of course, only in an organization as screwed up as Seattle’s would a guy with a 4.13 FIP in 61 innings of work be trying to cling to a role in the starting rotation for a team that is headed nowhere, but it looks like even the Mariners might not be able to screw this up.

The M’s selected Dickey in the Rule 5 draft last December, and then worked out a deal with Minnesota allowing them to option him back to Triple-A to start the season. He cleared waivers before the trade could be consummated, and right now, 29 teams have to be wondering what they were thinking.

Dickey’s transformation from a traditional pitcher to a knuckler is paying dividends, as he’s pitched quite well for the Mariners since he was called up. His 1.5 K/BB rate is pretty much in line with what established knuckleball pitchers run, as their success is derived more from their ability to cause weak contact, limiting their hits on balls in play. Dickey’s .301 BABIP may appear right at league average, but when you consider that the Mariners have had the league’s worst defense, that’s actually something of an accomplishment.

It’s too early to call Dickey the next Wakefield – and at 33, he’s not exactly a spring chicken – but he is showing some promise with the knuckleball, and is giving us a reason to hope that there will be another to carry on the art of the dancing pitch after Wakefield decides to hang it up.