THE CHANGEUP
In my opinion, the changeup
is the most deadly pitch in the game. For example, look at Maddux...he dominates
the game with it. Reason being, he can place it wherever he wants to and
can throw it whenever he wants to. He proves you don¹t have to be overpowering
to be successful at any level.
With the most effective pitch in baseball comes some difficult aspects in
throwing it. The way that I teach it may be different then you. The most
important thing to realize is that the grip of the changeup is meant for
you wrist to be able to break and not to be straight or stiff. (FIG 3) The
reason it does this is because there is no pressure under the ball.
The concept then of the changeup is to let the ball come off your fingers.
Your wrist then should be in the lead when you begin to release the baseball.
As your hand comes through behind your wrist, the ball is forced away from
your body by your fingers. The key here is to make sure you have a down
and away motion with your arm. This causes the ball to have a heavy backspin
as well as to break away from a RH batter assuming the pitcher is LH.
This backspin on the ball creates a force and slows it down as it cuts through
the air. Remember to keep your arm speed the same as your fastball. You
DO NOT want to slow your arm speed down to slow the ball down.
The grip, shown to the right can be tricky and is important for accuracy
and effecitveness. The ball must lie or rest on the balls of your fingers
(meaning where your fingers are attached to your palm). You don¹t want to
have the ball jammed up in your hand because that makes the pitch harder
to control. Keeping your pinky finger on the side of the ball helps immensely.
Kids want to put that finger under the ball...remember we don¹t want to
have pressure under the ball.
Always concentrate on letting and feeling the ball come off the fingers
in a down and away motion. I show that you throw the ball with the seams...you
can throw it against the seams if you wish by just rotating the ball 90
degrees.
Submitted by: Coach B
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