The Curse of the Knucleball

Every now and then I feel the need to rant a bit about some of the things I see going on in a certain aspect of the game of the baseball. Today is one of those days. I'm not really that upset mind you, just a tad bit frustrated about the over use of the knuckleball by littler leaguers in the Williamsburg area. It's not that I think the knuckleball is necessarily a bad pitch. The problem I have is the fact that many very talented young pitchers are wasting time working on an aspect of pitching that has very little chance of helping them in their future careers. Quick, name more than two knuckleballers who have pitched in the Bigs in the last twenty years. Tim Wakefield is one...the most obvious choice. How about another... waitng ... waiting... Tom Candiotti anyone. Most of my pitching clients have probably never even heard of him and past that, I can't even name another.

The point is there is a less than 1% chance that a youngster will end up throwing a knuckleball later in life. Now, it wasn't that long ago that I was a little leaguer. I can remember how much fun it was to try and make the ball dance as I played catch with some of teammates. As best as I can tell, that is the main appeal of the pitch. The problem with this is that it requires a pitcher to completely change his delivery to throw the pitch correctly. For anyone who knows my philosophy on pitching, it goes without saying that I am completely against changing ones delivery, arm slot, or arm speed to throw a pitch. It is this philosophy that explains why Big League knuckleballers only throw fastballs and knuckleballs. To make matters worse, the coaches of these kids are neither encouraging or discouraging this practice.

I think it is time that we take a position on the over use of a pitch that really has no benefits in the future games of these kids. I guess I tend to be a baseball purist. I would much rather see I young pitcher continue to develop useful pitches (fastball, change-up, breaking ball) at the expense of some early success with a trick pitch. I just put more value in the development of the pitcher than a few little league strike outs due to a knuckleball.

I'd love to hear any contrasting opinions from players and coaches out there. Feel free to post and I will respond.

Until Next Time!