Padres’ Matt Waldron Threw a Historically Filthy Knuckleball for a Strike, and It Was Beautiful
Everyone loves a good knuckleball.
San Diego Padres pitcher Matt Waldron gave the people what they wanted-and then some, as he hurled a historically filthy knuckleball in his second start of the year during Sunday's 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.
Facing Giants outfielder Michael Conforto with the count even at 1-1 in the first inning, Waldron unleashed the nasty knuckler, which traveled at a speed of 77 mph and recorded just 64 revolutions per minute.
Not only was Waldron's knuckleball beautiful to behold, but the pitch also featured the lowest spin rate on a knuckleball and called strike in the history of the Statcast era, which began in 2015, according to Rob Friedman on X, formerly Twitter.
Later in the fourth inning, Waldron tossed a 75.6 mph knuckleball that spun at just 28 rpm, but it was called a ball.
Of his 85 pitches, Waldron threw the knuckler 26 times, generating a pair of whiffs and five called strikes. The Omaha, Neb., native tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits while striking out five batters.
Oh, and he threw one perfect knuckleball.
