It appears that R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays is all but a done deal; with just the surrounding pieces needing to be ironed out.
With that said, here’s a quick Saturday night mini-scouting report on R.A. I’m going to avoid going into details that you’ll find on many other sites. We’re named Mop-Up Duty for a reason 🙂
Cliff Notes
- R.A. put it all together in 2012, led NL in K & IP, near top in ERA, W, etc
- While 2012 was the breakout, Dickey has been an effective MLB starter since 2010
- Solid year-to-year producer in terms of FIP, xFIP
- Knucleballer (approx 85%), backing it up with low 80’s sinker and a forkball (classified as a curve on Pitch F/X systems)
- 38 years old, previously requested 2 year, $26 million extension from the Mets
Inside the Numbers 2012:
- wOBA: .278
- BABIP: .280
- BA: .226
- 50%+ GB Rate
Top of the line stats:
- Swing Percentage: 50.4% (96th percentile)
- Strike Percentage: 68.9% (97th percentile)
- Chase Percentage: 33% (91st percentile)
- Called Strike Percentage: 37.3% (92nd percentile)
- Infield Air Out: 38 (10th overall MLB)
- FB Distance: 263 (79th percentile)
- Well-Hit-Average: .159 (82nd percentile, MLB avg: .197)




The knuckleball is thrown all over the strike zone. This goes back to the strike data we looked at earlier in the article. Dickey stays within the zone, and forces batters to swing or risk a 37%+ chance of taking a strike call.
Dickey’s change of pace is his sinker. It acts as a loss leader (.911 OPS against, .386 wOBA) and is designed to earn strikes (78.2% thrown for strikes, an insanely high rate):
Hit Type Stats:
- Linedrive: .736 BA, .945 SLG, .733 wOBA
- Flyball: .249 BA, .663 SLG , .356 wOBA
- Groundball: .169 BA, .189 SLG, .158 wOBA
In line with MLB averages, higher SLG is to be expected on flyballs due to the nature of the knuckleball.
Stolen Bases Against:
R.A Dickey did an amazing job in controlling opponents running games– not just for a knuckleball pitcher but any pitcher. He allowed only 4 SB in 7 attempts over 233 IP. He also tied for 6th in the MLB with 5 pick-offs.