While experimenting with throwing a knuckleball last season, Charlie Zink quickly learned of the pitch’s unpredictability.

“I was messing around and I hit a guy in the face and split his eye open,” said Zink.

Despite the mishap, Zink continued to throw the pitch on the side and caught the attention of Red Sox minor league pitching coordinator Glenn “Goose” Gregson.

He started to tinker with it in games at the Class-A level, but only when there were two outs and nobody on base.

Two weeks into spring training this year, the Red Sox approached him and asked him what he thought about making the knuckleball his main pitch.

“Goose thought it had a chance to be a good pitch,” said Red Sox farm director Ben Cherington. “We talked about it as a group and felt he’d have a better shot at getting to the big leagues if he threw it exclusively.”

Zink got personal instruction from Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield and watched the veteran pitch. He carries around tapes of Wakefield in action in case he needs a quick refresher.

When camp broke, Zink was sent to extended spring training. He eventually joined the Red Sox high Class-A affiliate in Sarasota, where he went 7-9 with a 3.90 earned run average.

Zink made a spot start for the Sea Dogs on Aug. 1 and was recalled a week later and told he’ll remain in Portland for the rest of the season.

The Red Sox think highly enough of the 23-year-old that he will among the group of players sent to the Arizona Fall League, where some of baseball’s top prospects play each year.

Not too bad for a guy who went undrafted out of the Savannah (Ga.) College of Art and Design, where he played for Red Sox great Luis Tiant.

The Red Sox signed Zink on Tiant’s recommendation.

He went 1-2 with a 1.40 ERA in 30 relief appearances between low Class-A Augusta and Sarasota last year, which made it that much harder for the Red Sox to approach him about converting.

“We didn’t want to force it on him,” said Cherington. “He hadn’t failed. It’s a lot easier to get a guy to make a change if he’s struggled. But we told him how we felt and he bought into it.”

The experiment has been a success as evident by three solid outings at the Double-A level just months after he learned to throw the pitch, including seven innings of no-hit ball against New Britain on Friday night (he allowed a single leading off the bottom of the eighth).

In those three starts, Zink is 2-1 with a 1.89 earned run average and has allowed just seven hits in 19 innings.

“To pick up on something like that so quickly, that tells you what kind of kid we’re dealing with here,” said Sea Dogs pitching coach Bob Kipper. “He’s pretty special.”

Kipper was bullpen coach with the Red Sox last season and watched Wakefield work on many occasions.

But other than monitoring mechanics, there is little he can do to help Zink.

“When it comes to throwing a knuckleball, I’ve had to ask more questions than give instruction.”

During his outing at Hadlock Field against Binghamton last weekend, Zink had only two pitches reach 80 mph, with most being crossing the plate right around 60.

“Less is more with the knuckleball,” said Zink.

“If I try to overthrow it, it flattens out.”

Zink said one of his biggest challenges has been having the confidence to throw the knuckler when he’s behind in the count, which will prevent hitters from sitting on the fastball.

“It’s coming along,” said Zink. “More often than not I’ll still throw it at 3-0 or 2-0.”

Zink’s ability to recognize what has worked for him and what hasn’t has played a big part in his success according to Kipper.

“He’s not going through this in a fog or daze,” said Kipper. “He’s trying to learn why he’s done well and why he hasn’t. There’s an intelligence there that’s really important.”

Movin’ on up

Kipper said he expects Jorge De La Rosa to adjust well at Triple-A Pawtucket.

De La Rosa was promoted to the PawSox after going 6-3 with a 2.80 ERA for the Sea Dogs.

The 22-year-old left-hander allowed just one earned run in his last 22 innings with Portland.

“I told him not to become overwhelmed with the situation,” said Kipper. “He deserved to go there. He obviously has the stuff to pitch in the big leagues, but it goes beyond that.

“He has to stay composed and poised. If he can do that, I think he’ll be very successful.”

Playoff tickets

Tickets for all possible Sea Dogs’ playoff home games will go on sale tomorrow at 9 a.m. at the Hadlock Field box office and by phone at 207-879-9500.

The playoffs will begin on Sept. 3 with the top two teams in both the Northern and Southern divisions squaring off.

The series will be a best-of-five and played under a 2-2-1 format, with the first-place team hosting Games 1, 2 and 5.

If the Sea Dogs advance to the Eastern League championship series, they would host the first two games and then play up to three games at the home of the Southern Division champion.

The Sea Dogs are trying to advance to the postseason for the first time since 1997.

Rice to appear

Former Red Sox slugger Jim Rice will be at Hadlock Field on Saturday, Aug. 23 and throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Sea Dogs’ game against Erie.

In addition, 20 fans will be chosen to meet Rice during the game, which begins at 6 p.m.

Rice, who has served as the Red Sox hitting coach, is a special instructor with the organization and also serves as a studio analyst for New England Sports Network (NESN).

Around the minor leagues

Pawtucket’s Bronson Arroyo tossed just the fourth nine-inning no-hitter in the history of the International League to lead the PawSox past Buffalo 7-0 on Sunday.

Arroyo, who was claimed off the waiver wire by the Red Sox in February, struck out nine and threw 73 of his 101 pitches for strikes.Akron’s Joe Inglett had his on-base streak stopped at 45 in the Aeros 4-0 win over Harrisburg Tuesday.Former Sea Dog Dustin Brisson has been swinging the bat well since being sent down to Class-A Augusta on July 20, hitting .328 in 19 games with the GreenJackets.

Bill Foley is assistant sports editor. He can be reached by e-mail at bfoley@sunjournal.com

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