The soft spoken backup catcher may be able to catch a knuckleball better than almost every other major league ballplayer — arguably even better than an elite defensive catcher like Russell Martin. That’s the way it should be though, since he has been doing it for R.A. Dickey for years.
Thole has been taking more than his fair share of criticism for his ineffective at-bats at the bottom of the Blue Jays lineup every four or five games. The ripple effect crosses over to R.A. Dickey. When Dickey struggles, which all pitchers who have ever thrown a baseball do (obviously some more than others) he gets ridiculed twice as hard because many Blue Jays fans feel that he is carrying a dead weight catcher with him.