Chris Nowlin at a single-A ballpark with college knuckleballer Jackson Bond
I was recently visited by an aspiring professional knuckleballer here in Northern California, where I am currently a starting minor league pitcher. His name is Jackson Bond, he’s 17 years old, from Dallas TX and throws left-handed. I wish I was left-handed because it would make it easy to deal with the running game. You could pitch with a full leg kick every time! I am jealous.
Jackson has a good knuckleball for his age. But working with him reminded me of a few things that everyone trying to develop this pitch should remember:
1. Don’t try to be someone else…
Jackson was warming up while playing catch with me. And I have a fairly unique way of throwing a baseball that helps me when I am pitching. My arm swings back in a long arch at glove break and then windmills up. If you freeze-frame me before the arm cock phase, it looks like I am carrying the baseball on a platter. Then I staple the ball to the back of my head before accelerating the knuckleball in a straight line at the plate. This gives me a little bit of deception because most long-armpitchers deliver the ball in a smooth arch, making it easier to time at the plate. I hide the ball right behind my head at the last minute, where it hangs up for a split second, right before I deliver the ball.
Jackson immediately asked me if he should do the same. And I immediately responded “No!”. You deliver the ball how you deliver the ball. You shouldn’t try to make major changes to your natural delivery. It will cause you frustration and delay your development. Learn really quick, right now, to be comfortable being you. Be you no matter how it looks. And be proud of it.
2. Process vs Result
Jackson would get fairly frustrated when the ball didn’t do what he wanted it do. In the beginning, we all do. But he was too focused on what was happening at the plate and was missing what was happening on the mound.
What happens at the plate is the result, which you CANNOT control! Don’t even try. Give up on controlling that right now. What happens on the mound is the process; the process of throwing the ball. This, you can control.
In baseball, the result USUALLY follows the process. If you complete the process well enough, the result will LIKELY be what you want. But it is not a direct relationship. It is not a cause-and-effect procedure. It is CORRELATED. That means a good process is LIKELY, not guaranteed, to produce a good result.
But what does this mean? Well, it means that you cannot control what happens at the plate. You could throw a knuckleball with ZERO spin and also get ZERO movement. But should you be upset if that pitch gets hit out of the park? NO! Absolutely not! You should be pumped that you controlled the process as well as you did. You executed on your end and when the ball is out of your hands, it is figuratively out of your hands. There is no more control. It is up to the wind, the baseball gods or the universe.
You cannot control the result… ever… not now and not in the future. Focus on the process, with all its fine moving parts, and the results will slowly start to follow your progress. Don’t fret at a bad knuckler. Don’t get down because the ball is spinning. Pick one adjustment that is critical for the knuckleball, focus on that, execute it well and live with the results. Once you nail that down, move on while keeping the adjustment itself as the goal. Every time you nail it, no matter the result, get excited that you are getting one step closer to your goal of being an MLB knuckleballer.
