Strange pitching for HSB.

Stats4Gnats10,000+ posts

The last 3 games we played, something very unusual for HSB was seen on the mound from our opponents. Lots of knuckleballs! Two pitchers used it more or less as a CU, but 1 used it as his main pitch, although not as often as you’d see it from someone like Wakefield. And the best part of it from a “baseball” perspective, but not our hitter’s perspective, was that those pitchers were extremely successful. The kid who used it the most got called in in the top of the 1st when the starter got injured after only 2 batters, and gave up only 1 hit and no ERs over the next 5 2/3rds.

Personally, I love it! I’d much rather see some average kid who can throw a KB and get batters out, than kids who can throw the pi$$ out of the ball but don’t have much success. I guess a main reason more coaches don’t teach it is because its viewed as a “gimmick” pitch, but I suspect the real reason is, they don’t know how to teach it, and even if they do, they don’t have the stones to call it in games because they think its gonna get bombed.

4/1/127:39 PM

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VaRHPmom100+ posts

I'll give you another reason. Because the boys don't want to be labeled as a knuckleball pitcher. I saw my son throw a knuckleball in bullpen practice. That thing was moving all over the place. When I talked to him about developing the pitch to add to his pitch selection, he said that he didn't want to be a knuckleball specialist.

Seems like there is a mentality that if you throw a knuckleball, that's all you should throw rather than having it as part of the mix. I don't know the mechanics of the pitch and was wondering if there is a reason for that way of thinking.

4/2/122:08 PM

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Skylark100+ posts

My opinion on it is that to be a true knuckleballer, that should be your main pitch and thus sacrafice fastball velocity to have that ability to knuckle pitches because it is a different set of mechanics to properly throw. Normally whemn you throw your wrist will be flexable and provide the last velocity and impart spin on the ball. With a knuckleball, your wrist is or has to be straight at release and follow through in order to not impart any spin on the ball. Some tend to think of it more as "pushing" the ball. The problem with trying to throw both a fastball with good velocity and spin and a knuckleball with a lower velocity and no spin is that you are teaching your arm to have mechanics that tend to be more geared towards a knuckleball and thus the velocity of the fastball will eventually be compromised because you are training your muscle memory not to impart spin.

I have known a couple of local knuckleballers where i live and have noticed that their fastball velocity is slower and they impart slower than average spin on their fastball also. I have noticed in at least one case close hand that a team-mate to son started having control issues with his fastball when he started relying on his knuckleball too much. It was no wonder- he had trained his arm to throw with a stiff wrist and as such his fastball looked as if it was being "pushed" out of his hand with virtually little spin. His velocity struggled for two years until he stopped throwing the knuckleball and retaught his wrist to be loose and flexibale.

4/2/122:45 PM

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