So everybody is all abuzz now about R.A. Dickey. Most of what I have been reading and hearing from the media has been overwhelmingly positive, however I did witness MLB tonight commentators Al Lieter and Mitch Williams being a little down on the Dickster.
These two took the apparent "prevailing baseball" mindset towards R.A. and his craft, saying that while it's nice so see Dickey have some success at this point in his journeyman career, he is by no means the best pitcher in baseball right now. To that I say, "Sirs, I respectfully disagree."
It's fairly arrogant and short sighted to assume that just because a pitcher does not have the ability to dial up his velocity 10MPH in the later innings of a game, a la Justin Verlander, does not mean that said pitcher lacks the talent to become successful in the MLB. R.A. Dickey is a unique specimen in baseball, and possibly Baseball history.
R.A. Dickey has mastered a pitch that requires enormous precision and control, and needs to be repeated almost perfectly in order to be effective. To imply that Dickey has been successful due to luck or "trickery", as the MLB Network commentators did, is asinine.
I think other Met fans can relate to the current media frenzy around R.A. Dickey as being a little bit confusing. Met fans have been here for the whole ride, and witnessed the evolution of R.A. Dickey personally. Dickey took the mound in Washington for Stephen Strasburg's home debut, and OUT-DUELED HIM. The Mets wound up losing the game on a K-Rod blown save, but had the lead by the time both starters had made their exits. Dickey has gotten better each season, and has finally refined his particular brand of pitching to the point where he can throw it for an unhittable strike at will.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is enjoy this great run for R.A. for however long it lasts, but don't be surprised if he is able to sustain this level of success for longer than you might expect.
Oh, and LETS GO METS!
So throwing a knuckleball is "trickery", but following a 97-MPH fastball with an 86-MPH slurveball isn't? Pret-ty dumb. Nothing gimmicky about working on your strongest pitch so much that it becomes unstoppably well honed. Don't like the knuckler? Then hit it.
ReplyDeleteDickey's success came the hardest way possible; it was preceded by surgery and mediocrity. Teams will stand by a prospect with triple-digit heat, but to grind through years of frustration and injury and fight your way to the top takes the kind of fortitude you can only find on the top of Mt. Kilimajaro. Also, the matchup of Wang-Dickey is the hilariousest thing to happen in baseball this year.
It's funny that when the Mets came to DC, the Nationals watched K-Rod blow the save and said to themselves "we must acquire that ability."