knuckleball or not.

[utility91]

the knuckleball. I've heard coaches say your a knuckleballer or a normal pitcher. you can't have both. but my knuckleball is my best pitch and my fast ball is just average. (high 70s-low 80s) does anyone know if colleges are against it. or other scouts?
thanks
Nick

[Hartattack52]

I am the same way. I am only 13 but my fastball is my best pitch at around 68. Then my knuckleball and slider. I use a knuckleball as my change up and slider as my strike out pitch. I was wondering the same thing for when I get older.

[Go Cardinals]

prove the coaches wrong

[Williamsburg2599]

If it's striking people out and is effective they'd have to be idiots not to look at you for it.

[utility91]

yeah. my fastball should develop. I'm only fifteen. any ideas for a third pitch? i throw a curve but it's slow as trash. when I throw it hard it doesn't break. any ideas?

[jamesh23]

I have been working on my knuckleball for about 6 months now, it started in january. its gotten pretty good and I threw my hardest the other day for 4 innings and I was tired so I threw 2 innings with about 80% K balls and they didnt get any hits off of me those last 2 innings.

[Jake Patterson]

I've heard coaches say your a knuckleballer or a normal pitcher. you can't have both....Nick
Nick, ask them to explain why?

[Hartattack52]

Lk i said my 3rd pitch is a hard breaking slider. It is very effective. It is a good pitch to compliment a good knuckleball.

[westsidegrounds]

If you research the knuckleball pitchers of the past I think you'll find they pretty much stuck with the knuckler. Two reasons:

(1) It is not an easy pitch to throw with consistent effectiveness. It takes some intense concentration - you have to get the mechanics right (even a k-ball, if it's thrown with improper technique, can injure your arm), and you have to practice those mechanics until they're automatic. It's a pitch you have to have total confidence in - enough confidence to throw it to the other team's best hitter in a must-win situation.

and reason (2) is, that there is no more devastating pitch in baseball than a perfect knuckler, so why take time away from working on the k-ball?

[aorta92]

I know that the k-curve is a form of k-ball, but is it a good compliment pitch to a good slider and fastball?

[shake-n-bake]

aorta92, Do you throw a knuckleball? Submarine? My son has played around with throwing one sidearm. I don't ever forsee a time when he'd throw one in a game though.

[korp]

the knuckleball. I've heard coaches say your a knuckleballer or a normal pitcher. you can't have both. but my knuckleball is my best pitch and my fast ball is just average. (high 70s-low 80s) does anyone know if colleges are against it. or other scouts?
thanks
Nick
The reason why is ... you don't need a knuckle ball if you throw hard enough. You can just get a curve or slider and changeup and be set. Knuckleball throwers generally don't throw as hard and their main focus is to not overpower but severly mess up the timing of the hitters. The knuckleball can be an unreliable pitch too as far as how much it knuckles so thats another problem if you try and do both.

[Quiz]

If you have a good knuckleball, you simply don't need a second pitch. The knuckleball is unhittable by design. For me the statement that one is a regular pitcher who amongst other things also throws a knuckleball is almost ridiculous. It is a dominant number one pitch and not just another choice.

The thing is to be honest to yourself. If you can't throw it for strikes in the majority of the cases or if you can't kill the rotation completely, then you simply don't have a good enough knuckleball and you shouldn't throw it at all.

[Billybob622]

the knuckleball. I've heard coaches say your a knuckleballer or a normal pitcher. you can't have both. but my knuckleball is my best pitch and my fast ball is just average. (high 70s-low 80s) does anyone know if colleges are against it. or other scouts?
thanks
Nick
yeah. my fastball should develop. I'm only fifteen. any ideas for a third pitch? i throw a curve but it's slow as trash. when I throw it hard it doesn't break. any ideas?

You're complaining about your fastball being average?!?!?!?! Ranging up into the low 80's for a 15 year old is pretty dang hard.

Anyways, for the record, i think you CAN be a normal pitcher AND a knuckleballer. What reason is there that you could not be both?

About that curve. How tight are you holding it? Sometimes if you hold it too tight, it slips out too late and becomes slow. Try different grips, maybe the grip you're using isn't working. Also, is it rolling over your pointer/index finger? Sometimes putting the pressure on your middle finger and letting the pointer/index finger rest, helps, atleast it did for me. Are you supinating right before release or through the whole motion? Try experimenting with grips (including the k-curve), pressure, and supination. Find what's comfortable and what works. If you can't get improvements, maybe the curve isn't for you. If this happens try the slider or splitter perhaps.

And why haven't you embedded a change-up into your repetoire? Perhaps the answer isn't a curve but a change-up.

Finally, I don't know if I'm wrong, but I think ranging into the low 80s as a 15yr old, is not average at all, but rather excellent. If you're k-ball is your best pitch, I'd work on getting your fastball to the same level as your k-ball, and maybe use the curve as a strikeout or backup pitch.

In summer ball, we had a kid who was just like you, threw pretty hard, and had a devastating k-ball. Thus, he threw a complete game shutout against us.

[Death to Crawling Things]

Well, some thoughts.

I cant necessarily recommend going with a knuckler. But, as far being as knuckler or normal pitcher, I dont see it either/or. Until Hoyt Wilhlem there seems to be plenty of pitchers who threw a semblance of a knuckler at least occasionally.

AS far as needing it to knuckle or it being worthless. Well, in a higher level maybe but in high school, no you really dont need a good one. One kid on my high school team was a fastball-knuckleball pitcher. It'd only knuckle about 40% of the time but it worked great as a change-up (which some form of should be considered instead honestly, circle change, straight change, palmball, etc.)

A slow as heck curve isnt a bad thing. A slow, big sweeping curve was my bread-and-butter (before I developed a slider). It can work as a change-up and a breaking ball.


But, if you are throwing an low-80s MPH fastball at age 15. You arent in the average velocity. I mean, dude my fastballs would be like change-up next to you. :) That'd be like top 3 velocity in my district back in the day (at least).

[Death to Crawling Things]

Though, keep in mind, if a good hitter knows it is coming and it doesnt knuckle. Well it'll rattle around the ozone layer for a couple of decades. But, that happens with all hanging stuff. Part of the job description. You learn from it and go on.

[Quiz]

What reason is there that you could not be both?

What is the reason you should? With a perfect knuckleball, why should you throw another pitch? This brings up the question of what is better, a 98 mph fastball or a 62 mph knuckleball? I'd go with the floater, because hitting it is pure luck. As a hitter, you cannot "sit" on it.

In my opinion throwing different pitches is just the admission that the knuckleball isn't good enough. Of course it doesn't hurt to have a good fastball also, but that belongs more to philosophy. If your nuclear arsenal is good enough to nuke the world into pieces once, you don't really need more than that.

[Chris O'Leary]

I've heard coaches say your a knuckleballer or a normal pitcher. you can't have both.

Many people say this, but the fact is that back in the day many pitchers used a knuckleball as a 3rd or 4th pitch.

[Eagle]

the knuckleball. I've heard coaches say your a knuckleballer or a normal pitcher. you can't have both. but my knuckleball is my best pitch and my fast ball is just average. (high 70s-low 80s) does anyone know if colleges are against it. or other scouts?
thanks
Nick

Interesting article on knuckleball pitchers.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/the_bonus/06/25/wakefield/index.html