With Tucker's Knuckler, Vikings Possess Rare Pitching Weapon

About six years ago, a young boy sat in his room playing a baseball video game when he came across a pitcher, and more specifically a certain type of pitch, that he simply could not hit.

The ball, pitched at a painfully sluggish speed, would dance around on its way to the plate and the unpredictable movement made it impossible to make solid contact—much less any contact at all.

The pitcher in the video game was the Boston Red Sox’ Tim Wakefield. The pitch? A knuckleball. 

However, more importantly, the young boy was Lansdowne senior J.T. Tucker, who has learned about, worked on and honed the pitch as soon as his hands were big enough to master the grip.  

Now, as a part of the Vikings pitching rotation, Tucker possesses the ability to come in and throw a pitch that most high school hitters have never seen in a game situation—you can tell by their reactions to seeing the knuckleball, just ask Tucker.  

In fact, the first time he ever threw the pitch in a rec-league game as a 12 year old, his opponent’s legs knocked together before he eventually fell to the ground and lay there awhile not knowing what he just saw.  

Tucker’s been mystifying and frustrating hitters ever since.

“I’ve seen kids fall down swinging at it. Some see it go by and laugh,” Tucker said. “Over the summer, one person just stared at it with a blank expression not knowing what to do. It’s crazy.”  

Still, the senior’s pitch is not just a gimmick used for entertainment. (Even though Tucker’s teammates admit they can’t hold back their laughter watching the baffled hitters.) Lansdowne head coach Matt Kohel, foresees his knuckleballer as a useful weapon at his disposal.

“I think it’s going to be a huge help if we face a team that can actually start to catch up with some of our harder throwers,” Kohel said. “If they start to catch up with them and we’re ahead or having trouble, I can throw him in there and get that change of speeds.”   

Making Tucker’s knuckleball so effective, is the fact that Lansdowne’s top starters, Shane Montgomery and Sam Warfield pump in there fastball upwards of 75-82 miles per hour, making the knuckler look like slow-pitch softball in comparison—except with that unpredictable movement.

“If I were to come in after one of those guys it would completely change the tempo of the game and everything kind of has to stop just for this one pitch,” Tucker said. “Sam’s throwing like 82 and I come in with this knuckleball and their bat [speed] is all fast and it changes the whole aspect of the game.”  

Thrown with the fingertips (not actually the knuckles) the ball is pushed along without any spin. Because of its lack of rotation, the pitch is significantly affected by variations in airflow caused by differences between the smooth surface of the ball and the stitching of its seams. As a result, the ball will flutter, jiggle and curve—creating a nightmare scenario for a hitter just looking to make contact.

In Tucker’s one regular season outing this year, the senior allowed just one hit over five innings and struck out six against Woodlawn.

And, as if the knuckler isn’t deceptive enough on its own, Tucker routinely only throws fastball during his warm-up, further stupefying the hitters.

Tucker has worked so much on his knuckleball over the years that, according to Kohel, his control for the wacky pitch is better than that of his fastball. 

As a result, his confidence his sky high when it comes to throwing the knuckleball in scenarios that dictate a fastball, such as 3-2, 2-1 and other “hitter’s” counts.

 “I’ll throw a knuckleball [in those situations] because people think I’m going to come with the heat,” Tucker said, referring to his mid-60s fastball, which actually looks much faster in comparison with the knuckler.

“I throw the knuckleball because I know it’s going to be a strike and I am very confident in it. If I don’t get a strikeout, I get a pop out. It’s so hard to time.”  

All the more impressive, aside from Kohel helping him with pitching mechanics, Tucker has basically taught himself how to throw the knuckleball.

His teammates are just glad they don’t have to face it, preferring instead to watch from the field as opposing hitters deal with the misery that is trying to hit a knuckler.

“It’s ridiculous. It makes people look embarrassed, look silly,” said outfielder Melvin Shook. “You’ve got to guess when you swing. There’s no sense of direction, really. It’s just hard.”

Tucker, however, believes there’s a method to the madness and the more he throws the knuckler, the better feel he’ll have of where it’s going to end up.  

“I just try and focus more and I feel like when I throw it a certain way I know how it’s going to break and what it’s going to do,” Tucker said. “I just keep throwing it and throwing it and when I throw it higher I get it to drop down and do some crazy stuff.”  

So, maybe he does know where the pitch is going. But, the hitters certainly do not.