03/05/2020
⚾️ 🔥 In my opinion (others too I’m sure), a good change up is one of the best pitches in baseball! Hitting is all about timing... When you’re able to fire a pitch with the same tempo as your fastball but have it be 8-10-15mph slower, you will make batters look silly!!
⚾️ 🔥 There really is no “correct” or “incorrect” way to grip a change up. I’ve played with guys who would throw a palm ball or a “slip pitch” (taking your pressure fingers , index & middle, up off of the ball) and they had some of the nastiest changes I’ve seen! I myself tried and played around with different grips to find which I thought would be most effective.
⚾️ 🔥 The most common one these days, as any Coach/ballplayer/fan knows, is the circle change.... A lot of young pitchers get the idea that you have to make a perfect circle with the index finger and thumb. 👌🏼 Not the case.. The Circle change is definitely a good starting point to gripping a great change up. Adjust your grip to where you are comfortable from there and then stick with and master that grip!
💥 Deception is the key 💥
Here are a few tips that I teach my students to help improve this underrated, great pitch.
• Play with your grips and find one that feels comfortable and controllable for you
• Stick with that grip once you find it and master it
• Throw the ball with the same tempo as your fastball (the grip is the only thing that changes). A very good way to practice this is by throwing your change up beyond the pitcher’s mound. Even and especially during long toss. Really reach and feel the whip
• Remember, this pitch is all about deceiving the batter. If you slow your motion and arm speed, not only the batter, but everyone in the park will know it’s coming
• Be light on your fingertips. Revolution/spin on a fastball is what makes it cut through the air and increase velocity. Light on fingertips decreases the revolution automatically taking velocity off
• Depending on the count and batter you are facing, know where to throw it. In a fastball count, let the hitter see it. Put it right there so their eyes light up thinking they’re gonna smash a fastball! ⚾️👀 Aaaand swing and a miss! Or stuck frozen 🧊 Ahead in the count (0-2,1-2), start it at the lower part of the strike zone and watch them chase it as it dives down out of the zone. Prettty satisfying as a pitcher, whether a lefty throwing to a righty or a righty to a lefty, to watch them swing out of their shoes on a low, outside change piece!
• Like always and with every pitch!! Have confidence and commit to it!!!
Coach Nolan
