Matt Waldron's tribute to Tim Wakefield
It was three years ago, but Matt Waldron remembered the Zoom call like it was yesterday. How could he not?
It was Tim Wakefield talking throwing knuckleballs on the other side.
"It was an honor to do that," the Padres starter told the 'Baseball Isn't Boring' podcast. "I just remember the nerves I had going to do it. Why is he talking to me? I’m a guy in High-A. It was just cool how helpful he was at such an important moment of development."
Back then, Waldron was a former 18th-round pick trying to find a path to the major leagues, leaning on this new pitch as a potential lifeline. The Padres had set up a meeting with Wakefield to offer any guidance when it came to the almost-never-thrown offering.
Now? Waldron has become one of the National League's most reliable starting pitchers, getting a chance to bring back Wakefield's memory. When the San Diego hurler lets that first knuckleball fly Sunday, it will be the first time Fenway Park has seen the pitch since Steven Wright's appearance on July 13, 2019.
And it all will be rooted in two pivotal Zoom calls Waldron had the honor of conducting with the guy who threw 4,047 knuckleballs at Fenway from 2008-11.
"To be at this place right now is a dream come true," Waldron said. "I only met him twice on Zoom but I felt like he was a friend of mine. That was nice. I’m grateful and in a very good headspace about it and I want to honor him."
As was the case with so many Wakefield came contact with before his tragic passing last September, the interactions - which consisted of two, two-hour Zoom sessions - left an indelible impression on the Padres' pitcher.
"I didn’t know how long it was going to be but all of a sudden I had a Zoom call scheduled," he recalled. "Two hours went by like it was nothing. He always had something to talk about. He was a great guy to hang out with and talk about anything. Obviously, we just focused on the knuckleball and having fun with it.
"I didn’t know how much went into, in a good way. I got more out of it than I thought I would have. I just enjoyed hearing him and how he performed at the highest level. At that point it seemed very troubling for me. I thought my back was against the wall a little bit. He helped set the stage a little bit. It was a nice push, for sure."
The "push" has landed Waldron in a place most 18th-rounders don't find themselves, anchoring the San Diego rotation with a 3.43 ERA in 16 starts. His second season in the big leagues has seen the 27-year-old also up with knuckleball usage from using the pitch 26.7 percent of the time to 38.8 percent, significantly more his secondary offering (using the fastball 22.1 percent of the time).
Before Waldron, the most recent attempt at integrating the knuckleball on a semi-regular basis came from Baltimore's Mickey Jannis, who threw it 57 times in 2021.
But nobody has thrown the pitch as much as Waldron (572 times, to date) since Wright's time with the Red Sox, and, before him, R.A. Dickey.
It's a moment, and a pitch, that will bring back memories - and appreciation - from all in attendance at Fenway ... particularly the guy wearing that brown uniform on the pitcher's mound.
"You can kind of tell he was, if you want to say, the ringleader," Waldron said of Wakefield. "His presence was very, very strong. It was awesome. I can visualize it now, easily. It’s something I will never forget. He’s a great man."