Players You Forgot The Pittsburgh Pirates Drafted Part 5

Pitcher Tim Wakefield

Tim Wakefield is one of the most famous and successful knuckleball pitchers in MLB history. Wakefield spent 17 seasons with the Boston Red Sox, but the first two years of his career were spent with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team he was drafted by. But what many may not know is that he was originally drafted in the 8th round of the 1988 draft as an infielder.

Wakefield wasn’t much of a hitter, only having a .636 and .508 OPS through his first two professional seasons. He played multiple positions including first base, third base and second base, but his lack of a bat led to him making the transition to the mound, as a knuckleball pitcher.

He eventually made his Major League debut in 1992, and was a very effective pitcher. In 92 innings, Wakefield had a 2.15 ERA, 3.27 FIP and 1.20 WHIP. He didn’t strike out many batters with a 13.7% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate, but he allowed just 3 home runs. His sophomore year was a real struggle. In 128.2 innings, Wakefield walked more batters than he struck out with a 59/75 K/BB ratio while surrendering 80 earned runs.

After 1993, Wakefield had to undergo Tommy John surgery, which caused him to miss all of 1994. Wakefield was released in April 1995, and was picked up by the Red Sox just days later on a low-risk deal. The low-risk deal the Sox took on Wakfield turned out to be an outstanding move.

He pitched 195.1 innings putting up a 2.95 ERA, 4.53 FIP and 1.18 WHIP. Wakefield saw his walk rate drop to just 8.4% while his strikeout rate went to 14.8%. Wakefield would spend the next 16 years with the Red Sox.

He served as both a bullpen arm and starter with 590 total games played with 430 being starts. While he did have a 4.43 ERA and 4.74 FIP throughout his long career with the Sox, his ERA was considered above average with a 106 ERA+. Pretty good career for a guy who was forced to move to the mound and take up one of the rarest pitches in the game.