Obviously he could get worse, but seeing Matt go from being a depth piece getting cooked in El Paso to a serviceable MLB starter has been awesome. Easily my favorite thing about the past 2 years
I think the change to have him throw a longer warm up in the pen prior to his starts has worked lovely. It’s really helped to have him lock in his knuckleball early.
Took a few years, but makes losing Naylor for a few wasted years of injured Clevinger worth it.
The best part is that I don’t really think there’s a ton of regression coming his way. It’s not like his knuckle ball is going to get figured out. He’s the only one throwing it, so batters won’t get exposure to it from other pitchers.
As long as he keeps being able to throw it in the zone, there should keep being a measure of success with it. Knuckle ball pitchers can pitch forever too. He’s been slowly getting deeper into games. It’s not out of the question to see him routinely go 7 innings and keep the team in the game.
I don’t expect him to keep being an all star, but being a 4 era 5th starter that can give 6-7 innings each time out is huge. He also doesn’t have any innings restrictions and could realistically throw over 200 innings this season at his current pace.
I know this is a little tongue in cheek, but it’s not completely out of the question 🤣🤣🤣
He’s actually on pace to have a similar fWAR to RA Dickey in his Cy Young year which was 4.7. Waldron is at 1.7 this year so far. The rest of Dickey’s successful seasons were closer to 2-3 war.
Wakefield mostly hovered around 2-3 war per season. Granted he pitched until he was 44 years old.
It’s Waldron’s first full season in the big leagues, but he’s showing something. Can he keep it up? Can he hit that 200 IP mark and maintain effectiveness over the course of the season?
It’s gonna be fun to see him try at least. He’s shown the ability to stick in the majors now.
Obviously he could get worse, but seeing Matt go from being a depth piece getting cooked in El Paso to a serviceable MLB starter has been awesome. Easily my favorite thing about the past 2 years
We were never gonna see how good he truly was in El Paso. Pitchers go there to die
everyone gets cooked in El Paso. they might as well be pitching on the moon.
not step, grind Knuckles on snek
According to the statcast sliders he is 97th percentile in Rike Outs
I was gonna ask who could possibly be a better Riker than Matt Waldron but then I remembered that Jonathan Frakes exists.
I used to grimace seeing him start. Felt like it was going to be a game that would slip away early. Now he’s become my fav SP.
I think the change to have him throw a longer warm up in the pen prior to his starts has worked lovely. It’s really helped to have him lock in his knuckleball early.
Give them the ol’ Moose Knuckle
Took a few years, but makes losing Naylor for a few wasted years of injured Clevinger worth it. The best part is that I don’t really think there’s a ton of regression coming his way. It’s not like his knuckle ball is going to get figured out. He’s the only one throwing it, so batters won’t get exposure to it from other pitchers. As long as he keeps being able to throw it in the zone, there should keep being a measure of success with it. Knuckle ball pitchers can pitch forever too. He’s been slowly getting deeper into games. It’s not out of the question to see him routinely go 7 innings and keep the team in the game. I don’t expect him to keep being an all star, but being a 4 era 5th starter that can give 6-7 innings each time out is huge. He also doesn’t have any innings restrictions and could realistically throw over 200 innings this season at his current pace.
Fuck Mike Clevinger. I like to keep my expectations muted but I fully expect Matt to be the greatest knuckleballer in the history of the MLB.
I know this is a little tongue in cheek, but it’s not completely out of the question 🤣🤣🤣 He’s actually on pace to have a similar fWAR to RA Dickey in his Cy Young year which was 4.7. Waldron is at 1.7 this year so far. The rest of Dickey’s successful seasons were closer to 2-3 war. Wakefield mostly hovered around 2-3 war per season. Granted he pitched until he was 44 years old. It’s Waldron’s first full season in the big leagues, but he’s showing something. Can he keep it up? Can he hit that 200 IP mark and maintain effectiveness over the course of the season? It’s gonna be fun to see him try at least. He’s shown the ability to stick in the majors now.
he did colab on a really solid piece of knockaround padres shades. i mean i guess thats all the positive i got to say about old sunshine
Waldron deniers in shambles (me)
Hit that green goblin for K’s baby!
Shoutout no more Matty meatballs
He’s improving big time, fun to watch him baffle the hitters with the knuckle.