It may seem difficult to hit, but the numbers say it isn't. Tim Wakefield's knuckleball has apparently been one of the worst pitches in baseball this season.
In his yearly column of interesting tidbits from the baseball season, Yahoo! Sports columnist Jeff Passan uses the "Pitch Type Value" sabermetric from FanGraphs.com to claim that Wakefield's knuckler has been worth minus-10.7 runs so far this season.
But, good news: Wake only trails New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey by 0.4 runs for the "worst" knuckleball in baseball.
Wakefield might have better numbers if he faced Curtis Granderson more often. Despite all of his gaudy numbers against traditional pitching, the New York Yankees MVP candidate is worth minus-2.6 runs when attempting to hit a knuckler.
The best pitch according to the numbers? Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander's fastball, which is apparently worth 32.3 runs.
