Russell Martin, Josh Thole, R.A. Dickey and the art of catching a knuckleball

DUNEDIN, Fla. – It seems there isn’t enough hyperbole when it comes to describing a knuckleball. The elusive pitch is now so rare and so unpredictable that even those who know it best are at a loss to properly describe it, or its actions.

"Have you ever tried to catch a butterfly as it's floating around in the air?" Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin asked recently. "I wish I could put a camera on my mask or something for people to see exactly what the ball's doing.”

Martin, the Blue Jays’ prized free-agent acquisition this offseason, is in the process of learning to catch a knuckleball. Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey is the only player left in the major leagues whose bread-and-butter pitch is the knuckler. The trick pitch, as it’s sometimes described, helped revitalize his struggling career in his late 30s and turned him into an All-Star, and 2012 Cy Young Award winner.

Since 2010 when they were both members of the New York Mets, Dickey’s “personal catcher” has been Josh Thole. Thole arrived in Toronto with Dickey in the same 2012 trade and has caught almost all of Dickey’s games. Martin, however, is a three-time All-Star catcher and signed an $82 million deal in November. He also said he wants to catch Dickey this year and immediately went to work learning the art here at spring training.

Martin vs. Thole for the right to be Dickey’s batterymate has created one of the most watched and talked about battles at spring training. But why the stigma? Is it really inherently more difficult to catch a knuckleball?

The short answer is. . . yes.

“It’s not something you can replicate in practice unless you have a knuckleball guy on your team. It’s a rarity,” Thole said. “You can set the machine up all you want and bang balls and try to catch them or whatever else. But until there’s a man on third base, two outs, tie ball game – that’s the hard part. You can’t replicate that. I suppose that’s why it’s been such a thing really.”

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Sal Fasano is the Blue Jays’ pitching co-ordinator. He spent 15 seasons as a professional catcher playing 427 games in the big-leagues and another 844 in the minors. Over his career he pretty much saw and did it all – including developing a knuckleball of his own – and caught some knucklers in the minors.

“It’s really difficult,” he said. “ There’s no direction, you don’t know what way the ball’s going to break. There are certain techniques that aren’t really mechanical – they’re more mental. Everything from breathing to how your posture is set. And then each pitcher wants to throw it to a different type of frame – some guys throw to glove, some throw to body. So you have to learn all that information and put that detail into your work. Bottom line is you have to catch it and make it look good.”

On top of all that, Fasano said Dickey’s knuckleball is unique compared to other well-known knucklers like Tim Wakefield and Phil Niekro because he throws it harder.

“With R.A. you’re looking at one major move. Somebody like Niekro or Wakefield had a double-moving knuckleball and those are even more difficult. But because [Dickey] throws it so hard it doesn’t have time to double break.”

That’s not to say it’s easy. And Fasano understands the appeal of a personal catcher. As much as there is pressure on the catcher to corral the pitch, there’s a trust component with the pitcher, too. He needs to know he can get a big swing and miss on strike three, and the ball won’t end up at the backstop and the runner on first.

“[Dickey] is used to the frame, he’s used to the setup,” Fasano said. “There are certain keys in Josh’s body he can go to – now you’re asking Russell to do that in a short period. I’m not saying he can’t do it, I think he can.

“But there’s a lot of little manipulation to do to make R.A. feel comfortable. Plus, if you’re not comfortable the umpire senses it and you don’t get those borderline calls like they would with Josh. That’s a lot of work that Russ has to do.”

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The fantastic 2012 documentary “Knuckleball!” provides an in-depth look at the very few men who have made big-league careers out of throwing a knuckleball. It focuses primarily on the whirlwind careers of Wakefield and Dickey. At the time, Wakefield was in pursuit of his 200th career win, and Dickey was just starting to fully embrace the knuckleball after nine seasons of bouncing between the majors and minors.

It’s a must-see for baseball fans, an engaging and at times sombre look at the ups-and-downs of the men who resorted to the knuckleball as a last resort to remain – or get into – the big leagues. But the comic relief of the film is provided by the few catchers interviewed.

Ron Hassey was a journeyman catcher for 14 seasons. He spent 1985 with the New York Yankees catching a 46-year-old Phil Niekro and his knuckler. There’s a scene with a clip from ’85 where Hassey shows off his two catching mitts – his regular one and the one he used to catch Niekro. (That’s it to the left.)

Doug Mirabelli played parts of 12 seasons in the big leagues, seven of which he spent in Boston as Wakefield’s personal catcher.

“It’s an eerie feeling when you don’t feel the ball go into the glove. Panic sets in,” he says in the documentary before running his hands through his almost-entirely-grey hair and adds, “All these grey hairs I call ‘Wakeys.’”

Another former Red Sox catcher, Jason Varitek, sums up the experience best.

“Everything you’re taught as a catcher goes out the window,” he says. “You have to wait as long as you can because the ball can at the last second change direction.”

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Though he’s only a few weeks in, Martin is confident he is learning the trade and is capable of catching Dickey.

“I know it’s going to be a process,” Martin said “I know I’m not going to be as comfortable today as I will be in a couple weeks after catching him more. But so far, I’ve been content with how I’ve handled him.”

If it works, and both Dickey and Martin are happy with the relationship, it’s good news for the Blue Jays. Martin is a competitor and wants to be on the field; he doesn’t want to be forced to sit every five days just because Dickey is pitching. And the Blue Jays will almost certainly be a better team when he is in the lineup.

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It may, however, leave Thole out in the cold. The Blue Jays have a very capable, albeit slightly disgruntled, backup catcher in Dioner Navarro. He was the starter last season and was good. Without the role of being specifically assigned to catch Dickey, Thole doesn’t have much use on the 25-man roster. Last year Thole slashed .248/.320/.278 in 150 plate appearances. The Blue Jays also carried three catchers for most of 2014, something they would be forced to do again if they decide Thole is the man to catch Dickey (at least until Navarro is inevitably traded).

As precarious as the career of a knuckleball pitcher is, so too may be the job of catching the pitch. Martin is steadfast in his belief he’s up for it, but...           

“'It's not easy,” Martin said. “I’m going to have to focus every pitch. It’s almost like I’m at the plate hitting. It’s that type of focus that I need to have.”

While the early reviews on the Dickey-Martin relationship have been positive, and everyone is saying the right things, Fasano maintains there’s no predictor of success.

“They give it the best effort, we give them the best information but there’s something about the experience of doing it that is just hard. I wish I could give them the right answer, but it’s all trial and error.”

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Ian Denomme is an editor and writer for Yahoo Sports. Email him at denomme@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter.