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2005 season Player Profile - Charlie
Zink I love to watch a knuckleballer work his craft. Today I got to see Charlie Zink of the Red Sox pitch for Mesa. Zink was signed by the BoSox as an non-drafted free agent out of the independent Western League. He had spent two weeks pitching for the Yuma Bullfrogs until his college coach, Luis Tiant, recommended him to the Red Sox. Tiant had lured Zink to the Savannah College of Art and Design from National Champion Sacramento City College. After watching him throw one time, Tiant was so impressed he convinced the young pitcher to transfer to his program. Sporting a 95 MPH fastball, which went with his splitter, slider and changeup, Zink was thought by scouts to be a risk for injury because of how hard he threw. After going undrafted, he tried out for the Blue Jays, Braves and Rangers who all passed on him. As a result of not being signed, Zink briefly considered a career as a professional golfer. Then came Tiant to the rescue. The former Red Sox ace obtained a shot for him with the Sox. Signed as a traditional power pitcher, Zink was tutored by Tiant to adapt the 'back to the batter' windup he had made famous decades earlier. According to Zink, this actually increased his velocity a bit. However, he abandoned the Tiant windup when he turned pro. Because of his early success as a traditional pitcher, Zink is a rarity among knuckleballers. In his first professional season, he posted a record of 1-2 to go with an ERA of 1.68 while pitching in relief for Augusta of the Sally League. Zink converted to a knuckleball pitcher late in the 2002 season after he threw a few on the sidelines which really danced. At the urging of the Sarasota coaching staff, he threw it more and more, beginning with experimental tossing in harmless game situations. In 2003, he became a full fledged knuckleballer, using it for over 90% of his game situation pitches. In August, after being promoted to AA Portland, Zink toyed with a no-hitter, carrying the no no into the ninth inning when he gave up a blooper to New Haven's Matt Logan with two outs. In the 2003 Arizona Fall League season, Zink worked his knuckleball with some amazing results. He retired the first 13 hitters he faced that fall before giving up a single. He ended the AFL campaign with a 1-2 record and ERA of 4.91 even though he was striking out more batters than he walked. Earlier in the spring, the Sox had Zink work with veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield who tutored Zink on the nuances of the knuckler. The first knuckleballer known to baseball was a bricklayer named Toad Ramsey. Ramsey, pitching for Louisville in the old American Association, injured his pitching hand and, as a consequence, adopted the odd grip which resulted in pitch which floated and danced it way to the plate. Eddie Cicotte also threw the pitch after he discovered he could get good movement when he pressed the knuckles of his index and middle fingers hard against the ball and steadied it with his thumb. Eventually, others discovered that the same effect could be achieved by clamping down on the ball with one's fingertips, the grip seen today. All told, there have been about 70 pitchers who have thrown the knuckler as their main pitch (according to Rob Neyer, who apparently has made a project of counting such things). Famous knuckleballers include the Niekros, Hoyt Wilhelm , Charlie Hough, Tim Wakefield and Jim Bouton, who converted to the knuckler after injuring his arm after throwing too many fastballs. Wilhelm was featured in the movie "61," when he was brought out of the Baltimore bullpen and told by his manager he would be fined if he threw a fastball to Roger Maris when the latter was chasing the Babe's record and needed one more that night to beat the single season home run record in the same number of games in which Ruth set it. Zink also continues to throw his traditional pitches when he needs them. I saw him flash a fastball today when he had a runner on first and needed to keep him there. Additionally, he threw his heat in several occasions when he needed a strike or when he felt he could strike out a batter who was laying back looking for the knuckler to tumble in on him. Zink has been called the Red Sox top pitching prospect in the past by some publications. However, he has not shown much recent success as he has advanced to the AAA level and is no longer considered to be one of the top prospects in the Red Sox system. He is back in the AFL to throw his knuckler more and to continue to work on it. --- John Kazlo All photos on the Arizona Fall League Report are credited to Bill Mitchell, unless noted otherwise, and are not to be used for any other purpose without express permission.
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