Timmy: Head
Your head has much more to do with your knuckleball than you may think. The human head is heavy and the body goes where the head goes. And even Charlie Hough has said that the former Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright had that best knuckleball mechanics he’d ever seen because of the movement of his head. Don’t overlook this critical part of the knuckleball delivery.
The Head Mechanics
#1: Chin on Tracks.
This simple adjustment sharpens the knuckleball immediately. You want to be completely balanced at release and the head helps you do that. A lot of pitchers yank their heads to the glove side which puts the throw off-balance. Instead, imagine your chin is on a train track and that track goes right through the tip of the plate and catcher.
#2: Don't Spill the Water.
This is very similar to the chin-on-tracks adjustment above, but we’re now going to make it 3D. Imagine there is a little Dixie cup of water balanced on your head and you cannot spill the water even as you throw. This will allow the hips and spine to rotate efficiently underneath you and will make you athletically balanced at release.
#3: Keep Vision Stable.
Your vision should stay stable throughout the entire throw. In fact, you want both of your eyes on the target, not just when, throughout the entire throw. If you vision shudders and the catcher bounces up and down inside your vision, then you’re likely not landing correctly or you’re off-balance. Try to keep your vision as stable as possible with both eyes on the target to pull off the nearly impossible feat of throwing a pro-quality knuckleball.
#4: Stay Down Hallway.
This has less to do with the head than it does the whole body, and it’s not an adjustment that has worked for me. However, Charlie Hough swears by it, so there must be something there. You’ve got to imagine that you’re in a hallway that can barely fit your shoulder width and height. Stay in that hallway as you throw.