Why The Knuckleball Is Basically Extinct... The Unpredictable Pitch With NO SPIN..

i'm david enjoy this great game [Applause] one two to davis [Applause] one hitters for r.a dickey it is the most erratic pitch in the game slow but unpredictable very difficult to hit and very difficult to catch despite this there have been very few pitchers throughout history whose main pitch has been the knuckleball and today there are zero in the big leagues the origins of the pitch are unclear although we do know two of the earliest pitchers to throw the knuckleball lou mourin who pitched in the big leagues from 1903 to 1910 and was credited by the new york times as inventing the knuckleball and the better known eddie seacot who was on track to be a hall of fame pitcher until he was banned from the game for participating in the fixing of the 1919 world series his nickname was knuckles and he actually threw the ball with his knuckles hence the nickname and hence the name of the pitch eddie summers who pitched with the tigers from 1908 to 1912 and at one time was a teammate of c-cops before they reached the big leagues adopted the pitch but slightly modified it using his fingertips to grip the ball instead of his knuckles this is the grip that has been most commonly used throughout baseball history you don't throw the knuckleball with your knuckles i throw a man with my fingertips you might call it a fingerball said gene bearden who pitched for the indians in the late 1940s i use my fingertips so much it develops calluses the purpose of the pitch is to give it the least amount of spin possible basically pushing the ball over the plate and allowing the wind currents to make the ball bob around like a wiffle ball it could break multiple times during its trip to the catcher's glove if he can catch it or the batter's bat if he can hit it former dodgers knuckleballer tom candiotti who spent 16 years in the big leagues and retired with a 3.73 era explained it has a mind of its own hitters rely on instinct to be able to hit most pitches such as curveballs and sliders they've seen them enough times to be able to predict where the pitch will be when the bat swings through the zone but with the knuckleball that all goes out the window it's a pitch that has also historically allowed pitchers to continue their careers once their skills have started to diminish sort of like the dhs for hitters jesse haynes was a hall of fame pitcher for the reds and cardinals he pitched a no-hitter in 1924 but by his mid-30s he became ineffective he switched to the knuckleball and continued to pitch until the age of 43. another hall of famer ted lyons experienced so many injuries that he had to resort to slower stuff like the knuckleball and also a big slow curve and an even slower curve all this slow stuff allowed him to continue his career as well and become a hall of famer as baseball moved into the 40s and 50s there was always a handful of knuckleballers around some of whom were extremely famous such as hoyt wilhelm who pitched for 10 teams including the new york giants and was only days away from his 50th birthday when he threw his last pitch phil negro had the most wins ever by a knuckleballer with 318 victories the hits king pete rose said i work for three weeks to get my swing down pat and phil messes it up in one night trying to hit that thing as a miserable way to make a living phil's brother joe negro was also a fantastic knuckler but he also threw a hard fastball and solid changeup finishing his career with an impressive 221 wins charlie huff made his big league debut in 1970 and was still around in 1993 to make the first start in florida marlin's history he ended up pitching for 25 years so why is it that a pitch that can be so deadly a pitch so unpredictable and hated by pitchers is also so unpopular especially today it's a pitch that can allow pitchers to throw many more pitches and for many more years wilburwood threw 376 and two-thirds innings for the white sox in 1972 376 innings for context zack wheeler had the most innings pitched in baseball in 2021 with 213 and a third nevertheless since 2000 i could only find eight pitchers who threw the knuckleball as a primary pitch and one of them r.a dickey won a cy young award doing it part of his success was somehow not just throwing a fantastic knuckleball but giving it more velocity than any knuckler before him most knuckleballs are thrown between 55 to 65 miles per hour but dickey regularly threw them in the mid to high 70s he called his pitch an angry knuckleball not just the typical butterfly but back to the question at hand why are there practically no knuckle ballers the main answer is likely that the pitch is just too hard to control phil necro once threw four wild pitches in one inning this is the analytical era where front offices want to be in control as much as possible obviously if someone as dominant as 2012 r.a dickey comes along he will get a spot in a rotation but as for just letting someone experiment with a knuckleball try to hone their skills i doubt very many teams will be very patient with that these days the pitch leads to many past balls and wild pitches walks the unpredictability may just be too much for this modern analytical age would front offices be okay with letting pitchers try to develop this pitch over several years keep in mind it took ra dickey six years to develop the pitch that he had during his cy young season there have been some immediate success stories such as tim wakefield who was actually drafted as a hitter once he realized he wasn't going to make it as a hitter he learned the knuckleball and was a near instant success however even he lost control of the pitch and the pirates eventually released him of course he revived his career with the red sox and through many ups and downs including roles as a starter reliever and closer he pitched until he was 44 years old but could a tim wakefield type have that type of career today with a high walk rate low strikeout rate but he was durable and through 33 career complete games that is a lot for the modern era unfortunately this doesn't work for everyone there was a prospect with the giants named lance necro the son of joe negro and nephew of phil necro trying to make it as a position player he hit 246 with 17 home runs but was eventually dfaed and optioned to aaa when nobody claimed him he decided to try to revive his career as a knuckleball pitcher like his father and uncle unfortunately it never worked out for him and ended up retiring after the 2009 season another reason why we may not see the pitch much is because there may be a stigma attached to it according to alan nathan a professor of physics who runs the physics of baseball website it's seen as a trick pitch it's not really baseball there's not a push to throw it and teach the pitch at an early age there's also very little room for error if you put a little too much spin on it all of a sudden it's a batting practice fastball and is going to be launched into the seats former oriole slugger jim traber actually loved facing the knuckleball and says he would just stand up there like it's local softball wait patiently and then destroy it having the right feel for the pitch is so important as well which is why knucklers usually throw it more than 80 of the time they have to constantly throw it to not lose that feel and if they do have a night where that feel is missing they will likely get shelled since 2010 only three pitchers have pitched in the big leagues that use the knuckler as a main pitch eddie gamboa who pitched in just seven games for the raise in 2016 he had an impressive era of 1.35 but walked eight in 13 and a third he is now in the mexican league stephen wright was on the path to having a very solid career he made the all-star team in 2016 but had a very rough 2019 getting suspended for steroids and having to undergo tommy john he pitched in aaa in 2021 with the pirates organization and is currently a free agent with a career 24 and 16 record and 3.86 era lastly there's mickey janus who in his one mlb appearance with the orioles in 2021 gave up eight hits and four walks in three innings he was recently released by the chicago dogs of the independent leagues so much for the knuckleball this is a pitch with a ton of positives but also a ton of negatives and we are in a day and age where having as much control as possible over every possible situation on the field is what front offices want with their computers and their analytics and i don't see a lot of knucklers playing in the big leagues anymore as this pitch is anything but predictable and it is very very difficult to control i hope you enjoyed this quick video on the knuckle ball please hit that thumbs up button and subscribe button if you enjoyed it have a great day let me know of any knuckleballers who i missed in this video there have been many fantastic knuckleball pictures over the course of baseball history but unfortunately it's one of the rarest pitches that you'll see and i fear it's going to be even more rare going forward have a great day and we'll talk to you next time

Channel: Humm Baby Baseball

Views: 950,940

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Id: slwfd29oZG8

Length: 9min 26sec (566 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 14 2022