Is R.A. Dickey Displaying the Best Knuckleball Command in Baseball History?

Facing the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night, New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey allowed just one hit over nine innings while racking up a career-high 12 strikeouts. That raised Dickey's record for the season to 10-1 with a 2.20 ERA. He has 90 strikeouts in 90 innings versus 19 walks. 

That walk total is certainly impressive for a knuckleballer who presumably doesn't know where some of his pitches will be going once he releases the ball. His walk rate of 1.9 per nine innings currently ranks 10th among National League pitchers and would be the best ratio of his career. 

Perhaps even more amazing is that Dickey has thrown no wild pitches this season. Zero. This is from a guy who throws a pitch that makes catchers sweat because they're only guessing where the ball will go and often have to chase after it.

Dickey threw 20 wild pitches in his previous two seasons, so it seems unlikely that he'll make it through 32 or 33 starts without letting at least one get away. But with that walk rate and his lack of wild pitches, is Dickey showing the best control that we've ever seen from a knuckleball pitcher? Let's look at the best seasons by baseball's most well-known knuckleballers to compare.

Phil Niekro, Atlanta Braves

Niekro pitched 24 years in the big leagues, so he has plenty of good seasons to choose from. His best one was arguably 1969, when he went 23-13 with a 2.56 ERA in 35 starts (40 games overall). Niekro threw 15 wild pitches that year and issued 1.8 walks per nine innings. 

He also had an excellent year in 1982, going 17-4 with a 3.61 ERA in 35 starts. That season, Niekro threw only four wild pitches but issued 2.8 walks per nine. 

The fewest wild pitches Niekro threw in a season in which he made at least 30 starts was 1984. He threw just two wild pitches that year but walked 3.2 batters per nine innings. 

Joe Niekro, Houston Astros

Phil's brother Joe had his best season in 1979. He compiled a 21-11 record that year with a 3.00 ERA. But he threw 19 wild pitches in 38 starts and walked 3.7 batters per nine innings.

Of the seasons in which he made at least 30 starts, Niekro's lowest wild pitch total was in 1970. That year, he threw only one wild pitch in 34 starts for the Detroit Tigers. He walked three batters per nine innings that season. 

Charlie Hough, Texas Rangers

The best of Hough's 25 major league seasons was 1986, when he went 17-10 with a 3.79 ERA in 33 starts. He let 16 wild pitches fly that year, while walking 3.5 batters per nine innings.

Among seasons in which he started at least 30 games, Hough threw the fewest wild pitches in 1990, tossing only four of them. However, he led the American League with 11 hit batsmen that year, so maybe some of those wild ones just sailed into the batter's box. 

Tom Candiotti, Cleveland Indians

Candiotti's best season was in 1988 for the Tribe. That year, he went 14-8 with a 3.28 ERA in 31 starts. He also posted 11 complete games. He threw five wild pitches that season, while walking 2.2 batters per nine innings.

The following season, Candiotti threw four wild pitches in 31 starts with a ratio of 2.4 walks per nine innings.

Tim Wakefield, Boston Red Sox

Wakefield went 11-5 with a 2.81 ERA in 2002. He threw five wild pitches that season and walked 2.8 batters per nine innings. However, those numbers were compiled in only 15 starts (45 total appearances).

In 1998, Wakefield made 33 starts, assembling a record of 17-8 with a 4.58 ERA. He threw six wild pitches that year, while walking 3.3 batters per nine.

The fewest wild pitches Wakefield threw in a season of at least 30 starts was four in 1996. He made 32 starts that season, with a ratio of 3.8 walks per nine innings. 

Steve Sparks, Detroit Tigers

Sparks was one of the few bright spots on a 2001 Tigers team that lost 96 games. He went 14-9 with a 3.65 ERA. He tossed eight wild pitches in 33 starts and walked 2.5 batters per nine innings. It should also be noted that Sparks led the majors with eight complete games.

Sparks only made 30 starts in two of his nine major league seasons. He totaled eight wild pitches in both of them.

Of the six knuckleballers we looked at, Candiotti seemed to have the best control in his best season. He tossed the fewest wild pitches with the lowest walk rate.

However, Candiotti also had one of the lowest workloads of the seasons we highlighted, pitching 216.2 innings. (Wakefield threw 216 in 1998.) Had he thrown another 10 to 15 innings, would he have tossed at least one more wild pitch?

One thing is for sure: None of these other knuckleballers had the strikeout stuff that Dickey has shown this season. He doesn't toss the usual floater, throwing harder than a typical knuckleballer. However, he also shows the slower knuckler when needed. Mixing in his fastball and a cutter, his repertoire might be a bit more diverse than his predecessors'.

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