Red Sox: A look back at knuckleball pitchers in team history

Red Sox knuckleballers from Wakefield, Wright, to Zink

A diversion off the emotional roller coaster regarding the Red Sox. A Kyle Schwarber and management free zone after the deadline deal action. A trip to Boston knuckleball pitchers memories and those who mastered the mysterious pitch or didn’t.

Former Red Sox knuckleball pitcher Steven Wright is still in the flow only at Triple-A in the Pirates organization. This season has not been kind for the right-hander with a losing record and the expected negative numbers.

Wright’s history with the Red Sox is one of the professional highs accompanied by professional and personal lows. Wright was an All-Star and well-noted pinch-runner. Wright also was suspended for PEDs and domestic violence. The injury list is extensive, including Tommy John Surgery, but until recently, Wright was the last of the knuckleball breed to pitch in MLB.

The Baltimore Orioles brought in a 33-year-old righty Mickey Jannis for a taste of big-league action recently. The Astros were up to the challenge and mauled Jannis over 3 1/3 innings. As a result, Jannis was quickly optioned along with his 16.80 ERA back to Triple-A. That is similar to another Red Sox’s knuckleballer – Charlie Zink.

I attended the MLB debut of Zink against the Rangers at Fenway Park in 2008. Zink started and managed to survive a tad over four innings, allowing the Rangers eight runs. The game was an old-school Fenway ball game as Boston hammered out a 19-17 win. Zink, like Jannis, was gone and with it a career 16.62 ERA.

Zink, Wright, and Jannis have something in common in that they were all pitchers. They all managed to master the knuckleball for various degrees of success. The illusive pitch is the most difficult of all to master. Master it, and it becomes a gateway to MLB since the basic pitching repertoire is not up to MLB standards. Then there is the exception and what an exception — a non-pitcher who becomes a star.

Tim Wakefield is firmly entrenched in the Red Sox pitching ledger – some negative, but mostly positive. Wakefield was initially drafted as a position player, but the inability to hit was recognized, and Wake had a lifeline – the knuckleball.

Players experiment with it. A fun pre-game or workout exercise, but Wakefield’s was far more effective than just any knuckleball. He toiled in the minors to refine his specialty and then hit “The Show” in 1992, going 8-1 in 13 starts. Wakefield was on his way, or was he?

What the knuckleball gives can also take. In 1993, Wakefield went in the opposite direction. That is the downside of the pitch and especially if there is no alternative in your pitching arsenal. The 1993 season was a statistical disaster, and eventually, Wakefield got canned. Boston signed him, and the rest part of the historical records of the Boston Red Sox.

The last entry for the K-Ball and Red Sox history is lefty Wilbur Wood. Wood signed out of Belmont, Massachusetts, high school for a reported $100,000 bonus. Soon Wood came to the Fenway mound as a 19-year-old, and the results over four up and down seasons were not promising. Cut loose with a 0-5 record to start what became a lengthy MLB career.

Wood shuffled around and discovered a talent for the knuckleball. He became a solid closer for the White Sox before moving into the rotation where Wood flourished. The K-Ball does not strain the arm, and in five years, Wood made 227 starts, including both ends of a doubleheader. So the Wood entry certainly comes with an asterisk.

Just where have the knuckleballers gone? Several are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but that was then, and this is now where the 100 MPH is worshiped on the altar of metrics. That so many pitchers on the cusp of failure have not given it a whirl is surprising. Maybe they have? If someone needs a tutor, then it is available here.