Projo Sports Blog

By Sean McAdam and Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writers

After some internal debate, the Red Sox have decided to replace on knuckleballer with another. Charlie Zink will make his major league debut Tuesday at Fenway, filling in for Tim Wakefield, who will be placed on the disabled list.

"This is everything I have ever dreamed of," said Zink moments ago. "It has come true now and I'm going to the major leagues. It's ridiculous. I'm at a loss for words. I really don't know what to say about it. I'll be smiling forever now. This is just awesome. Awesome."

Wakefield felt some tightness in the back of his right shoulder last Wednesday in Kansas City, then again Saturday when he tried to throw a side session in Chicago. The Sox sent him back to Boston Sunday morning, where he was due to be examined by Dr. Thomas Gill and receive a cortisone shot.

The Sox chose Zink over Devern Hansack, their other option in the Pawtucket Red Sox starting rotation. It's likely that the assignment would have been given to David Pauley, a 13-game winner with Pawtucket this season, but Pauley last pitched Saturday and would have had just two days' rest before Tuesday's start.

Zink, 13-4, 2.89 in 25 starts for the Pawsox, will pair with catcher Kevin Cash, Wakefield's usual batterymate.

Zink will be pitching on only three days rest, but that won't be a problem.

He's worked on short rest three times this season and his numbers during those starts are very impressive. He's 2-0 and allowed only one earned run in 15 1/3 innings in three outings - twice in April and once in May - with 13 strikeouts and eight walks.

"If [knuckleball] is going well, it should be just the same, I imagine," he said. "I'll get up there and see. I know the atmosphere will be completely different, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. It's going to be fun. It's going to be a blast. With all the adrenaline, I'll be fine."

Zink will be pitching in unfamiliar territory Tuesday night, but he'll be a little more comfortable knowing Red Sox catcher Kevin Cash will be behind the plate.

"I'm comfortable with him," Zink said. "I'm just so excited right now."

Cash, Wakefield's personal catcher, caught Zink in Pawtucket three times in 2007. He says both pitchers are different and he's also interested to see how Zink could perform on the big stage.

Cash has been paying attention to Zink's stats, but every time this season a player was called up from Pawtucket, Cash would make it a point to ask how Zink was doing. The answer he always got was "unbelievable."

"Obviously he's made major improvements," said Cash. "Wake throws his knuckleball 90 percent of the time. If Zink can do that, he'll have success. He can't rely on an 80-mph fastball, he'll need his knuckleball."

Cash calls Wakefield's knuckleball "violent and filthy" but Cash isn't about to compare Zink's to the veteran's because that wouldn't be fair.

"Wake sets the bar pretty high," he said. "If (Zink) does get hit around, it would be unfair to judge him on one performance because, with a knuckleball, he just might have a bad night. If a pitcher comes up from the minors and is throwing 95 and gets lit, he'll be given another chance because he throws hard."

Cash is also impressed with Zink's strikeouts-to-innings-pitched ratio with 94 in 152 1/3 innings.

Zink hasn't always been a knuckleball pitcher.

He signed by the Red Sox as a free agent in 2002 and at the time he was a 6-foot-1 right-hander who consistently threw in the low- to mid-90s. He knew he could throw a knuckleball and one day told his trainer in Low-A Augusta. The trainer didn't believe him and said throw one as the pair was playing catch. Zink unleashed one, the trainer missed it and cut his eye wide open.

That's when Zink's knuckleball career officially started.

He finally discovered his consistency this season and Tuesday night he'll get his reward.

"It's ridiculous," he said. "I'm at a loss for words."

 Tags  Boston Red Sox Charlie Zink Pawtucket Red Sox Tim Wakefield

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