Charlie Zink named minor league ‘Starter of the Year’
Posted on October 30, 2008
Filed Under 2008 Season | Leave a Comment
In a year when the Red Sox seemed to have an embarrassment of riches when it came to young starting pitchers, the minor leaguer that stood out the most was none other than knuckleballer Charlie Zink. Zink, who was cut from the International League All-Star game because he had pitched a few days prior, has been given the honor of minor league ‘Starter of the Year.’
Last season was a break-out of sorts for Mr. Zink. He won 14 games and finished the season with an astounding 2.84 ERA. He even got to make his big league debut at Fenway Park (he got rocked but that’s neither here nor there.)
Unfortunately I’m one of those people that think Charlie Zink’s current situation is one of the most frustrating in baseball. There is no way that the Red Sox are going to risk having 2 knuckleball pitchers on their staff, and Tim Wakefield doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon (he’s signed indefinitely assuming both he and the club want to continue the agreement.)
This means that Zink will either be traded or he’ll grow old in Triple-A Pawtucket making spot starts and being a workhorse for the PawSox. The possibility of him being traded is pretty slim because teams generally don’t like taking chances on knuckleball pitchers, regardless of their minor league dominance.
Anyway, enough negativity ;X Congrats Charlie Zink, you absolutely deserved this award and we’re all proud of you! Fingers crossed that we’ll see you again in a big league uniform, Boston or otherwise.
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If you’re interested, Kevin Czerwinski from MLB.com wrote a nice piece on the friendship between Zink and fellow pitcher David Pauley.
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