The Next Generation Knuckleballer?

The Columbus Clippers waved vainly at Eddie Gamboa's knuckleball last night:

A good knuckleball is baseball’s version of the gnat. A swing at its darting form generally results in a miss.
The Clippers went hunting for Eddie Gamboa’s knuckler last night at Huntington Park and came up empty more often than not during an 8-1 loss to the Norfolk Tides.
Gamboa (2-3) teased the Clippers’ hitters with floaters that darted in and around their bats in the 66-mph range. He allowed one unearned run and three hits over six innings while striking out seven.
“I’d seen that kid throw last year — a conventional pitcher,” Clippers manager Chris Tremie said. “Sometime between the end of last year and today, he went to a knuckleball. He commanded it pretty well. He threw strikes with it. Obviously, there were some that danced more than others. And basically, he threw strikes with it. “When a knuckleballer throws strikes, it can be a pretty tough day for hitters.”

With only R.A. Dickey and now Steven Wright in the bigs, it is good to see somebody else a step below the majors.  Wright's first major league start earlier in the month went kind of badly:

Wright won his last two relief appearances and had thrown 9 2-3 scoreless innings entering Tuesday's game. But he had trouble with command from the start and walked leadoff hitter Robbie Grossman.

Grossman stole second before advancing to third on the first passed ball of the inning. He then plunked Brandon Barnes and he later advanced to second on another passed ball.
A third passed ball allowed Grossman to score and Barnes to take second. The last passed ball of the inning sent Barnes home before a single by Jason Castro.
Wright walked Marc Krauss, prompting a visit to the mound by Lavarnway. The visit didn't seem to help as Wright soon followed it with a wild pitch that left Castro at third.
He scored on a groundout by Wallace before Wright finally escaped the inning by retiring Matt Dominguez.
It was the third time in major league history that a team had four passed balls in one inning. It last happened on Aug. 22, 1987, when Texas Rangers catcher Geno Petralli did it against the White Sox in the seventh inning. Knuckleballer Charlie Hough was pitching in that game.

Knuckleballers will have days like that.