Why is the knuckleball so hard to hit?

[AgainstAllOdds]

Seems really slow and right over the plate. Whats the deal with it?

[mathdotcom]

You bet baseball?

[mathdotcom]

coach, give aao a tutorial

[AgainstAllOdds]

Why dont you explain it then? Give me some insight.

[Deuce]

Movement, lack of speed, not knowing when the fukk is going to come in.

[smitch124]

unpredictable movement

[Deuce]

I don't know shit about basepads and I knew that. Maybe because I am an athalete.

A knuckleball (or knuckler for short) is a baseball pitch with an erratic, unpredictable motion. The pitch is thrown so as to minimize the spin of the ball in flight. This causes vortices over the stitched seams of the baseball during its trajectory, which in turn can cause the pitch to change direction—and even corkscrew—in mid-flight. This makes the pitch difficult for batters to hit, but also difficult for pitchers to control. The challenge also extends to the catcher, who must at least attempt to catch the pitch, and the umpire, who must determine whether the pitch was a strike or ball.

[paco]

wakefield has been working on that pitch for 15+ years as a pro, must be hard to hit at times

[Pecos Bill]

thats the gayest pitch in baseball

[darrell74]

Messes with a batter's eye level.
Ball drops drastic, then it goes either straight down, or tails a little
Virtually, no spin
Sometimes a batter can't anticipate if it knuckles
Wake will get it by a batter, sometimes without a knuckle
65mph knuckle, then a 85mph fastball, gets into a batters' head

This era's Phil Niekro, for sure
One of my favorite pitchers, too watch


Yeah, its friggin phenomenal that Wake is in his 40's and the best pitcher for Boston

[mathdotcom]

aao aren't you in school?

you should know how to do some research.... like type a fukkin word into google.

[Chi_archie]

wakefield only became a pitcher because he sucked as a first basemen in the pirates minors.... he threw the K ball during warm ups for fun and his teamates told him it was wicked....so he said... fuk batting .190 let me try to pitch...... dude could keep doing this till he was 50.....


Pirates never should have let him go due to one wild year

[tullamore]

If the catcher cant catch it, how do you expect the batter to hit it?

[darrell74]

Interesting.
Good post, Chi Archie

[AgainstAllOdds]

Good info!

Im just watching Wakefield pitch this thing and its pretty effective it just looks like like a underhand pitch like softball or something.

I have boston so I will take it.

[Willie Bee]

The answers Deuce and smitch gave are the most accurate: Nothing consistent about it. Even with a guy like Wakefield or Phil Niekro before him who throw the knuckler the vast majority of the time, it's rare for one pitch to do the same as the next one. A pitcher can move his fastball in and out, but it's still the same pitch. Darryl Kile's curve, one of the best in the business, was still relatively the same pitch from one curve ball to the next.

[betplom]

It's like trying to hit a butterfly with a wooden spoon.

Try that and tell us how easy it is.

[tullamore]

Wakefield is making $4 million this year, that has to be one of the best bargains in baseball for a veteran player. He is worth atleast double that with the amount of innings he will pitch this year.

[unde0087]

because it doesn't do the same thing 2 times in a row. Hitters have to predict where it is going to be when it crosses the plate.

[jjgold]

It i amazing what he does and at his gae. It looks so easy to hit him too,

When the ball does not move he does get nailed but it seems very consistent the last few years.