R.A. Dickey Pitching Tips 2012

[TonyMoraco]

I'm currently playing a franchise with the Mets, and I'm having a great time with them...But R.A. Dickey's turn in the rotation is the one that really challenges my team and bullpen, I never know what I'm going to get with him. sometimes I can pitch 7 or 8 shutout innings and sometimes I can't get out of the 4 or 5 (I guess this is the case with most pitchers, but u get the idea) but the one constant is the walks.

Few things to know first: I use buttons for pitching, on All Start Pitching, I Don't change any ratings on the players, so R.A's Attributes have not been changed. I also have the Stamina Slider at 5 (Default).

Now I have to say that his numbers in my franchise are not that bad when you see them at first glance (7-3 4.62 ERA), but what is killing me are the amount of walks I get with him during a game, because I can't control the knuckleball that much (last game against TB - 6.1IP 10H 5ER 13walks 4SO).

So I was just wondering if someone out there has any tips for me on how to "pitch" effectively with R.A. Dickey...ball maker positioning, pitch effort, up or down, in out..things like that.

I'm just about to move him to the bullpen and call up Zach Wheeler (I'm Using Knight165 spring training roster and it's the best roster, the guy is the best making the accurate faces and attributes)

Any Tips I would Appreciate!!!!

[nomo17k]

Knuckleball is something you don't expect to have much command anyways, so when you use the pitch, you should be aiming down the middle pretty much all the time. It's a pitch to make the hitter swing, but the unpredictable slight late movement should help avoiding the sweet spot. So even if it goes to fat part of the plate, it should lead to more poor hits.

If you really want to avoid hanging it, them you might just place the marker a bit lower in the strike zone so that when it misses it tends to miss down low rather than up high.... But in the end you never know how a knuckleball breaks and that's the point.

Pitching like that, I walked only 51 in 192 1/3 IP with Dickey... 4.07 ERA. That was in MLB 11 with Classic pitching (AS/HoF) but you should be able to perform similarly in this year's game.

[xboxxerx]

Tony,

How do you pitch him? Do you just rely on the knuckler, or mix in other pitches? I was watching the Nats/Mets game last week. Seemed he was beginning his batters with the knuckler then closing with a fastball or something else.

I realize that's all r/l, but maybe use his other pitches at 1st to begin the game, then throw an occasional knuckle to hopefully get the pitch confidence up.

I personally have always stayed away from the knucklers myself.

[TonyMoraco]

Quote: Originally Posted by xboxxerx

Tony, How do you pitch him? Do you just rely on the knuckler, or mix in other pitches? I was watching the Nats/Mets game last week. Seemed he was beginning his batters with the knuckler then closing with a fastball or something else.

yeah I do use the Fastball and changeup, Heck!...sometimes I would pitch a batter with ONLY fastballs and changeups.

[xboxxerx]

How do you find R.A.'s recuperating time after starts Tony? Being a knuckler, does he recuperate faster then a normal pitcher, or takes just as long?

[JG1986]

For me, pitching with him on AS was ridiculous. His knuckleball NEVER found the zone. IRL he does not walk as many batters as he was in my franchise with the Mets so I just edited his ratings a bit to decrease walks and increase strikeouts. I'm one for realism but using the latest OSFM ratings, he was worthless (for me). I also decreased his movement rating because his knuckleball does not move that much IRL from what I have seen and increased the rating for velocity to 99. He was the only player that I felt needed to be changed. So rather than changing sliders and difficulties, I changed his ratings so it would reflect him more appropriately. Again, this is what I DID. Sure, people may not agree but it made playing with Dickey much more realistic. He's already got 78 strikeouts to 10 walks. For me, his strikeout/walk ratio was horrendous.

[TonyMoraco]

Quote: Originally Posted by xboxxerx

How do you find R.A.'s recuperating time after starts Tony? Being a knuckler, does he recuperate faster then a normal pitcher, or takes just as long?

Just about the same as everyone else, remember that I always try to stretch him 110+ pitches just because he has such slow pitches.

Quote: Originally Posted by JG1986

For me, pitching with him on AS was ridiculous. His knuckleball NEVER found the zone. IRL he does not walk as many batters as he was in my franchise with the Mets so I just edited his ratings a bit to decrease walks and increase strikeouts. I'm one for realism but using the latest OSFM ratings, he was worthless (for me).

I hear you!...I've been reluctant to change anything, just because I think the ratings (for the most part) feel accurate. but maybe in this case I'll make the changes you listed there...thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by nomo17k

Knuckleball is something you don't expect to have much command anyways, so when you use the pitch, you should be aiming down the middle pretty much all the time. It's a pitch to make the hitter swing, but the unpredictable slight late movement should help avoiding the sweet spot. So even if it goes to fat part of the plate, it should lead to more poor hits.

yep, I do get a lot of weak contact and I don't get "hammer" as often. I'll try to "aim" at the very lower part of the strike zone and see how the pitches react...thanks man!

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by JG1986

For me, pitching with him on AS was ridiculous. His knuckleball NEVER found the zone. IRL he does not walk as many batters as he was in my franchise with the Mets so I just edited his ratings a bit to decrease walks and increase strikeouts. I'm one for realism but using the latest OSFM ratings, he was worthless (for me). I also decreased his movement rating because his knuckleball does not move that much IRL from what I have seen and increased the rating for velocity to 99. He was the only player that I felt needed to be changed. So rather than changing sliders and difficulties, I changed his ratings so it would reflect him more appropriately. Again, this is what I DID. Sure, people may not agree but it made playing with Dickey much more realistic. He's already got 78 strikeouts to 10 walks. For me, his strikeout/walk ratio was horrendous.

Hmm ... may have to give these edits a shot.

[JG1986]

Quote: Originally Posted by DJ

Hmm ... may have to give these edits a shot.

It worked out real well for me. I mean I didn't make him dominant. I'm not cheating with him. But when you see what he has done this year (and last night), his ratings are just crap. I forget what I did exactly but I increased his K rating, decreased his BB rating, decreased his sinker speed rating, decreased his knuckleball movement/break rating, and increased the knuckleball speed rating to 99 (which still doesn't translate to Dickey's knuckeball speed irl).

[pokerplaya]

OK, I can tell one thing right off the bat...

6 1/3 IP, and you've given up 23 baserunners? Fatigue...

That means at the point you got him out of the ballgame, you'd already faced 42 hitters, and thats if there was no errors. His pitch count had to be astronomical. At *3* pitches per hitter, you'd have thrown 126 pitches to this point, and I'd guess more.