Batting against Tim Wakefield

[Effington]

I had the unpleasant experience of facing Tim Wakefield for the first time, in a pretty important game. How do you approach him? His knuckleball is virtually impossible to follow. My approach was to wait for his "fastball" (78 mph), which worked to marginal success. However, to keep up with the Red Sox offense, late in the game I had to start going after the knuckle, which didn't work.

[jim416]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

Playing against him online I just told myself to be patient and take a lot of pitches. Didn't always work, but there isn't much strategy with this guy because you can't tell if the ball is going to drift up, down, in, or around. He's a mess to hit against. I finally started hitting him, but late in the game after he'd thrown about 70 pitches, but it's hard, that's for sure.

[Revolution42]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

Oh yeah.....he is tough to hit, I have tried the same, wait for the fastball....but sometimes I was stuck waiting for innings....now I just try and catch that knuckleball when its across the middle and hope I can hit it before it has floated out of reach. He can be very effective.

[NYJin2009tm]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

If you get on base against him tho he is a blast to steal bases against lol

[X12Celtics3]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

I hated batting against Wakefield in MLB 08, but I haven't had to try yet in 09. Luckily I am a Sox fan and am using the Red Sox in my franchise, so I won't have to deal with his knuckleball.

[Revolution42]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

If you get on base against him tho he is a blast to steal bases against lol

Thats a fact....between Ichiro, Chavez and Gutierrez it will be a literal track meet. When I start my Franchise I am setting a goal of stealing 6 bases in a game vs Wakefield.

[Effington]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

Unfortunately my first meeting was game 5 of the world series. Did not help my cause.

[PsychoBulk]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

For some reason ive always hit well against Wakefield, i think because the knuckler takes so long to get to the plate that if it is hittable you have so long to get the timing down spot on.

As for base stealing against him, yep, there should be plenty of that!

[twiztiddarkangelman]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

I have marginal success against him and I find if I pick a zone and swing only in that zone I hit better. Also I look for the fastball in hitters counts.

[JaFFiTh]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

For some reason ive always hit well against Wakefield, i think because the knuckler takes so long to get to the plate that if it is hittable you have so long to get the timing down spot on.

As for base stealing against him, yep, there should be plenty of that!

Yep, my first and only game i played against wakefield.. I knew he was gonna throw Knuckleball 95% of the time so I just sat and wait for the knuckleball and hit him around good, ended up losing that game as I was new to the show that time. Lost by 1 I believe. All other games I had that has wakefield in, he dominated me.. not this year! About time! With him, you'll definitely need patience as his knuckle will go all over the places so lots of time it'll end up out of the zone.

[N51_rob]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

A little off topic, but I hate how in rtts you will face a double A pitcher with a knuckle ball, a 93+ fastball, nasty curve and a decent slider. I can't hit that guy at all!

[42]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

A little off topic, but I hate how in rtts you will face a double A pitcher with a knuckle ball, a 93+ fastball, nasty curve and a decent slider. I can't hit that guy at all!

Yep, couldn't agree more! They have a fully loaded pitch selection, not really the case IRL.

[BigWilly]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

Unfortunately my first meeting was game 5 of the world series. Did not help my cause.

Hey, Eff...so are you going to update your franchise thread? I've been wondering how you were doing since going down 2-1 in games to the Rockies. Hey, the good news is you sound as though you're into a Game 6 in the WS.

Two runs at the playoffs between '08 and '09, and haven't gotten past the LCS. So, congrats for that at least.

As for the original question...sorry can't help. Haven't faced a knuckleballer yet, but I imagine it would be frustrating.

[swaldo]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

I was listening to Rex Hudler one time during an Angels game when they faced Wakefield. He said there is two schools of thought in regards to how to face a knuckleballer.

1. Position yourself in the front of the batters box and swing a bit early - hoping to hit the ball before the big break.

2. Position yourself in the back of the batters box and swing late - hoping to give yourself that extra spilt second to see what direction the ball is going.

Or you could always just work for walks.

I haven't faced Wakefield yet so that's about all I can say...

Also, don't forget to steal lots of bases - that's the drawback of a knuckleballer pitcher.

[JT30]

Re: Batting against Tim Wakefield

I was listening to Rex Hudler one time during an Angels game when they faced Wakefield. He said there is two schools of thought in regards to how to face a knuckleballer.

1. Position yourself in the front of the batters box and swing a bit early - hoping to hit the ball before the big break.

2. Position yourself in the back of the batters box and swing late - hoping to give yourself that extra spilt second to see what direction the ball is going.

Or you could always just work for walks.

I haven't faced Wakefield yet so that's about all I can say...

Also, don't forget to steal lots of bases - that's the drawback of a knuckleballer pitcher.

but there isn't a way (as far as I know) to move the batter around in the batter's box in this game