Waldron comes full circle with stellar start in Cleveland

CLEVELAND -- In the summer of 2019, days after he signed his first professional contract, Matt Waldron reported to Goodyear, Ariz., for Rookie ball -- a wide-eyed draftee, selected by Cleveland in the 18th round at No. 550 overall.

It was there that Waldron first began to dream of ascending the Progressive Field mound -- mainly because images of that mound were plastered everywhere at the facility. Until Friday night, he had never done so.

“I'd seen it a handful of times [but] only on a picture,” said Waldron, who was excellent before the Padres’ bullpen unraveled late in a 7-0 loss to Cleveland. “Yeah, it was pretty cool to be like, ‘This is what I was striving for -- and here I am.’”

Of course, Waldron didn’t envision it quite like this. For one, he’s a Padre -- the player to be named later in the deal that sent Mike Clevinger to San Diego in 2020. For another, well, he’s hardly the same pitcher. He certainly doesn’t have the same arsenal.

In November 2020, San Diego finalized the Clevinger deal by selecting Waldron from a short list of Guardians prospects. At the time, Waldron was an unheralded right-hander out of the University of Nebraska. The Padres liked his command and his feel for pitching. He had a high floor, and they figured he might fit at the back of their rotation one day.

Of course, they didn’t know about the knuckleball.

So maybe it was fitting that Waldron went to his signature offering more than ever against the team that drafted him. He threw his knuckleball with 54 of his 97 pitches on Friday -- a 55.7% clip that marks his highest rate in parts of two seasons with the Padres. After giving up homers on a pair of hanging sweepers in his last start, Waldron committed to the knuckleball as firmly as ever.

“I'd rather get beat with my best weapon and see where we go from there than vice versa,” Waldron said. “I have to admit -- I'm better with [my knuckleball]. Just use it more.”

That knuckleball kept the Guardians off-balance. Waldron surrendered his only run in the fifth inning, when Manny Machado misplayed an in-between hop at third base. David Fry reached on an infield single before Daniel Schneemann doubled him home.

“If it wasn’t for my error there in that situation, it would’ve been a nothing-nothing game,” said Machado (though the play wasn’t scored as an error). “I should’ve done a better job picking him up today, especially going up against his old team.

“He’s been a stronghold for our pitching staff -- keeping guys off-balance, keeping our pitching staff in a flow. It just sucks today we couldn’t get him some runs.”

Indeed, Waldron has given the Padres so much more than they could have envisioned when they added him to that trade. With his effort on Friday, Waldron lowered his ERA to 3.59. Since May 6, it’s 2.63.

The Padres have dealt with plenty of question marks in their starting rotation this year and are currently without Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove. Good thing they have Waldron.

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“He was tremendous,” manager Mike Shildt said of Waldron’s effort Friday night. “He was fantastic -- A+. He threw the ball exceptionally well. The knuckleball was on. The other pitches were there to complement. He was in control the whole way.”

It was a full-circle moment for Waldron, who developed his knuckleball as a kid playing catch with his twin brother in the backyard because they liked using the pitch in video games. Waldron didn’t really use it in high school. He didn’t use it at Nebraska. He didn’t use it while in the Guardians’ system.

Then the Padres spotted him playing around with it on a Spring Training back field. They asked him to throw a few in front of their tracking systems. Then a few more in live BP. Then, eventually, in games.

On Friday night, five years after that summer at the Guardians’ complex, Waldron threw it more than he ever had in the big leagues. Standing atop that Progressive Field mound for the first time, it was clear that, in some ways, he’s not the same pitcher. But in some ways, he very much is.

“Yeah, I’m very different,” Waldron said. “But at the end of the day, I go back to this: It is [about] that one pitch. But I just still find a way to compete out there.”