For six years now, Zink has been identified the same way. When his name has come up, it has been as knuckleballer Charlie Zink. It has been almost as if his first name was changed to “knuckleballer.”
When he began his pro career in 2001, he was still Charlie Zink, a typical prospect. He could zip it to the plate in the 90s. It all changed in his second year. Zink was fooling around with one of his coaches at Class A Augusta when he threw a knuckleball. It danced so much — the coach got hit in the face with one — that Zink was converted.
From then on, he became knuckleballer Charlie Zink, the guy the Red Sox hoped would become the next Tim Wakefield.
He has had enough success to climb to Triple A. Now, as he is excelling for the Pawtucket Red Sox and putting himself in position for a possible spot in the big leagues, it seems ironic that he has become a different pitcher, at least partially. He still throws his knuckler most of the time. But now it is just part of his arsenal.
“I’m throwing four pitches,” said Zink, who is 4-2 after being the winning
pitcher as the PawSox beat
Zink has made particular use of his fastball and changeup. His fastball is in the low 80s. His changeup is interesting because it is about the same speed as his knucklers, in the 66-71 range.
“Before I went to the knuckler, I thought the changeup was my best pitch,” Zink said.
He wanted to continue to throw the change, as well as his other pitches. But he was told he should focus on the knuckler.
This season, he struggled in his first start, giving up five earned runs in
three innings in a loss to
“I was told I should use my other pitches,” Zink said.
“I threw the knuckle ball myself,” said Sauver who
spent all or part of six seasons in the majors, the last
“If you look at Mr. Wakefield and what he does with
“He brought it up and it made sense,” Zink said. “All of a sudden, after years of being told the changeup would be a bad pitch because it was the same speed as the knuckler, I started using it after my fastball.”
Zink showed his new style a number of times yesterday. He went to 1-1 on
In the third, the count went full to Chris Roberson leading off the inning. Zink went to a fastball and got another strikeout. Having options has boosted his confidence.
“I feel now even if I get behind on a count, even 3-0, I don’t have any trouble getting back, throwing my other pitches and knowing they’re not going to get hit hard,” he said.
Until yesterday, Zink had gone six straight starts allowing two or fewer runs. The 2.45 earned run average he carried into the game placed him ninth in the International League. In the third inning, he allowed four runs on five hits. It was what he did after that, shutting out the Tides on three hits over the next three innings that caught the eye of manager Ron Johnson.
“He minimized the damage and then came back and settled down,” Johnson said. “That’s doing some professional work.”
In the old days, someone would have said that Zink did not knuckle under when he got into trouble. But these days he is more than just a knuckleballer.