Knuckleball pitchers in PT

[joehart]

Have you come across other Knuckleball pitchers (not sure if there is a 2012 RA Dickey All-Star)?

How are they performing for your team or in your league?

I was lucky to get the Gold 86 Wilbur Wood in my starter pack (or right afterwards...I did not notice it until I started to setup the team and looked closer).

He is already at 3.7 WAR - 6.4 projected
2.99 ERA, 142 ERA+, 1.10 WHIP, 162 innings.

here are the ones I have seen so far (or in the beta):

SP Phil Niekro R89 - 97KN with 59 Movement and 75 Control
SP Wilbur Wood R86 - 89KN with 58 Movement and 76 Control
SP Early Wynn R85 - 83KN with 64 Movement and 64 Control
SP Hal Brown R63 - 60KN with 42 Movement and 92 Control
SP Dutch Ruether R54 - 60KN with 45 Movement and 65 Control
SP Freddy Fitzsimmons R53 - 73 KN with 26 Movement and 70 Control

I also saw Steven Wright as a RP but given the high stamina (82), he
could probably also start:
RP Steven Wright R54 - 81KN with 55 Movement and 45 Control


In regular OOTP, it was always great to finally draft a Knuckleball pitcher that would eat innings and solidify the lineup for years to come.

[NYY #23]

There is a 53R Freddie Fitzsimmons, 74R Wilbur Wood, 70 Hoyt Wilhelm, and 60R Eddie Rommel in my league. Outside of Wood none seem to be doing well, along with Wright.

There is an 88R Wood in the AH now too.

[el_gringo]

This is purely anecdotal, but Wilbur Wood absolutely killed it for me in every single round of the beta, and he's doing it again for real.

I snagged a 'Record Breaker' from 1986 in the AH (one of the 86 rated ones, not the 88-rated from the same year), and through his 8 games and 66.2 IP so far he's thrown to the tune of: 1.62 ERA, 274 ERA+, 0.81 WHIP, and 2.1 WAR. Obviously he'll regress, but still... Unreal. [Edit: 3 CG out of the 8 starts, one of which was a 2-hit shutout.]

TL;DR: Wilbur Wood OP.

[One Post Wonder]

I had Eddie Rommel and Hal Brown in the beta. I think Rommel is listed as a reliever but I used him as a starter since he had the numbers for it. He wasn't bad. He was better than his OVR would suggest.

Hal Brown was great. He's a 63 that pitches like an 83. He's my favorite early game player.

The only problem with those 2 is that they don't strike people out and therefore probably won't earn you much achievement pp.

[joehart]

Originally Posted by One Post Wonder

Hal Brown was great. He's a 63 that pitches like an 83. He's my favorite early game player.

You must be luckier than me or utilize a team/strategy that better supports him. I can usually get a few good starts but then he starts to have stretches of giving up 4-7 Runs in just a few innings.

[Dogberry99]

They need to add a Charlie Hough to the game, maybe as an Unsung Hero or Historic All-Star (1986)

[bobfrig]

Hal Brown sucks for me he's leading the league in HR allowed, but he did have a strong start

[One Post Wonder]

Originally Posted by joehart

You must be luckier than me or utilize a team/strategy that better supports him.

You're right. In the Beta, I went with a defense first team. My worst defensive player was rated around 80, so that got paired up with a bunch of finesse pitchers. Hal Brown and those 50-50-80 types are great in that situation other than for the low strikeout totals.

I have Hal Brown now, too. But I'm pretty sure he'd get hammered with my current team focus so he's in the reserves until I switch things up.