R.A. Dickey knows new Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin has his work cut out for him if he wants to catch his knuckleball in 2015, but it’s something the veteran pitcher expects to work on when the two get together in Dunedin next month.
“I think it’s just going to be a matter of him getting as many repetitions as he can,” Dickey told The Jeff Blair Show Friday on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “Josh (Thole) has caught 75 or 80 percent of my starts since 2010 and there’s nobody better, but it’s nice to have a guy like Russell that can do it as well.”
Listen Now: Dickey on The Jeff Blair Show
Martin doesn’t have much experience catching knuckleballers, but it’s not a completely foreign exercise for him. As Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi pointed out last weekend, Martin caught knuckleballer Charlie Haeger for a total of 13.2 innings while with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2009 and 2010.
Dickey expects putting in the time with Martin will be the key to establishing chemistry.
“I think we’re just going to try to get as much experience together (as we can), whether it’s in-game situations or bullpens or playing catch on the side (so) he can get comfortable with what (the ball) does and how often it does it,” Dickey explained. “It’s just going to be time spent together. There’s no replacement for that when it comes to catching a knuckleball.”
The Blue Jays singed Martin to a five-year, $82-million contract in November and the 31-year-old is confident he can catch Dickey and expects to be given the opportunity to do so.
“I’m preparing that it’s going to be my job,” Martin told reporters last Saturday prior to a Baseball Canada awards banquet. “Really, I don’t know why I shouldn’t. If I can catch the guy and be in the lineup, put me in the lineup, you know?”
Dickey said he realizes that he and Martin will need to work together closely in spring training to go over the idiosyncrasies of the pitching style.
“At the end of the day it’s just about execution, but until that point arrives where I’m actually throwing a pitch, there’s a good deal of communication,” Dickey explained. “He needs to know the times I like to throw a pitch outside a knuckleball. I threw a knuckleball probable 87, 88 percent of the time and so there’s 12 percent out there that I want to sneak a fastball in or I want to manage a count with another pitch. To not have to shake to that is a big deal because everybody in the house knows that a knuckleball is coming when I pitch. So if I shake, then I’m probably shaking to a pitch outside of a knuckleball. It’s just going to take time, a lot of communication; he needs to know how I like to work hitters, how I like to go over advanced scouting reports on the other team, but he’s going to have to do that with the whole staff, not just me. We’re going to need all of spring training for him to get on the same page with the guys we have.”
Dickey has gone 14-13 in each of his two seasons in Toronto. He finished 2014 with an ERA of 3.71 and 173 strikeouts over 215.2 innings pitched. The 40-year-old aims to improve on those numbers and said he is preparing a bit differently this off-season so he can peak at the optimal time in 2015.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve just had to listen to my body a little bit more. There was a time in my career where I could do anything I wanted and it would all be okay. Now, I’m at a point where I’ve really got to pay attention to what my body’s saying and use the spring training time to really get ready,” Dickey said. “I’ve been programmed for so long to go in ready to compete that this year will actually be the first year I’m making any real significant adjustments to my spring training.”
