Great video on the pitch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REvp7HEXXMc
Some factoids:
1) Historically, knuckleballers have almost exclusively relied on the pitch (it mentions a game where Wakefield threw 170 knuckleballs)
Yes, the knuckleball can indeed have unique properties that allow a pitcher to be considered a starter, even if they lack a third strong pitch. Its unpredictable nature can make it challenging for batters, which can compensate for the weaker slider and change. If the knuckleball is consistently effective, it can dominate games and keep hitters off balance, making the pitcher valuable as a starter despite having only two solid pitches. This can lead to success in longer outings, as the knuckleball can often reduce wear and tear on the arm compared to other pitches. Need help from a professional essay writer? I have found a platform that offers various academic writing services for students, such as custom essays, case studies, and dissertations. With a commitment to originality and on-time delivery,
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2) Knuckleballers rarely get injuries. Arm injuries are basically non-existent. In fact, a lot of traditional pitchers whose careers seemed ended by injury revived their careers because they learned to throw a knuckleball (e.g. Jim Bouton)
3) Knuckleballers age much more slowly, ability-wise, because there's so little wear & tear on the body
4) It's a pitch that even non-pitchers can learn (although it's very difficult to learn). Wakefield is one of the examples of a position player reviving his career by learning the pitch
5) Knuckleballers need less rest between starts. This can lead to crazy results if a team's #1 starter is a knuckleballer because the rest of the rotation concedes to his turn. It mentions Wilbur Wood's 49 starts & 376 innings when he was a #1 starter.
6) It's very easy for a knuckeballer to become a terrible pitcher. Even a slight unwanted spin turns the KB from a great pitch to the easiest pitch to hit. When a knuckleball is not "knuckling", the pitcher can get shelled
7) It's hard to catch. The video mentions that passed balls and wild pitches are 4x more likely for knuckleballs. A funny anecdote about Wakefield's personal catcher is mentioned to highlight that teams will often have personal catchers (presumably with a high blocking ability) to serve as personal catchers for knuckleball pitchers.
All of these elements could theoretically be incorporated into OOTP since the underlying mechanics already exist. #1 is already covered. #2 could be covered by setting the potential for arm injury to the lowest possible setting. #3 would be more challenging, probably #4 could be covered as a special pitch to learn in the development lab. #5 - not sure how they could cover that. #6 - maybe a hidden but low % chance that the knuckleball is at half-strength for any random start? also challenging #7 - this might already be in the game, dunno. But it would probably need the ability to assign personal catchers to pitchers, which currently doesn't exist in the game.