Dickey doesn’t need personal catcher

“The perception is kind of out there that you have to have a specialized catcher to do it,” Dickey said Friday in the teams’ offices across from SunTrust Park.

But with Dickey’s take as a guide, it may not mean bringing in a catcher to pair with the 2012 Cy Young winner.

General manager John Coppolella has already discussed Dickey with Flowers.

There is an area where the addition of a knuckleballer is certain to have an impact and that’s with new full-time manager Brian Snitker, and the act of, well, managing Dickey.

“An open line of communication is vital as far as I’m concerned with my pitch, because I can walk three in the first and give up three runs and then go seven scoreless when they don’t even put a bat on a ball because of the nature of the pitch,” Dickey said.

One year after leading the majors in innings pitched by players 24 years or younger, Atlanta flipped the script by bringing in Dickey, and Bartolo Colon, 43, the ’05 winner in the American League.

It wasn’t a departure from the plan to develop the young arms general manager John Coppolella, president of baseball operations John Hart and Co.

“I told my wife ‘Hey, Big Sexy (Bartolo Colon) is coming over,'” Dickey said.