"Changing-up" your pitching: it looks like a fastball, but batters will be fooled.[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Few things are more satisfying to a pitcher than striking out a batter. But what's the best way to get it done? Many would say that rearing back and firing the ball as fast as you can is a great technique. Others would tell you that a good curveball is more effective. But the secret that's a perfect complement to any pitcher's bag of tricks is the change-up. A change-up does just what its name implies. It "changes" the pace of a pitcher's normal speed and is intended to fool the batter's eye The batter's eye (short for batter's eye screen) is a solid-colored, usually dark area beyond the center field wall of a baseball stadium, that is the visual backdrop directly in the line of sight of a baseball batter, while facing the pitcher and awaiting a pitch. . It resembles a fastball as it approaches the plate, but it moves more slowly. The batter--anticipating a faster pitch--might look silly as he takes a full swing at nothing but air and then watches the ball pass by an instant later. "The change-up allows a younger player to appear to have a better fastball because of the difference in speed between the two pitches," said Derek Aucoin, who runs The Baseball Center, a school in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . Aucoin used the change-up quite often during his professional baseball career. He pitched for the Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (French: Les Expos de Montréal) were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1969 until 2004. After the 2004 season, the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. and the New York Mets
"Most young pitchers know about working 'in and out' (throwing the ball on the inside and outside corners of the plate)," said Aucoin, "but they don't think about working 'back to front' (changing the speed of their pitches to fool the batter)." There's another advantage to the change-up: it doesn't put as much stress on a pitcher's arm as a "breaking" pitch does. Throwing breaking pitches--curveballs and sliders--can lead to injuries, especially when a young pitcher is still growing. Aucoin is always concerned when he sees young pitchers throwing curveballs. "It makes me worry about the long-term Long-term Three or more years. In the context of accounting, more than 1 year. long-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss in the value of a security that has been held over a specific length of time. Compare short-term. health of their arms," he said. "A change-up is perfect for a player who is still developing physically because it does not put your arm in jeopardy jeopardy, in law, condition of a person charged with a crime and thus in danger of punishment. At common law a defendant could be exposed to jeopardy for the same offense only once; exposing a person twice is known as double jeopardy. . The delivery is exactly the same as an ordinary fastball." An effective pitcher learns to disguise Disguise Dishonesty (See DECEIT.) Abigail enters nunnery as convert to retrieve money. [Br. Lit.: The Jew of Malta] Achilles disguised as a woman to avoid conscription. [Gk. his change-up, making the delivery closely resemble that of a fastball. The ball will move more slowly after it is thrown, but that doesn't mean that the pitcher should slow down his windup windup Central sensitization, neuroplasticity Anesthesiology A physiologic ↑ sensitization of excitable neurons, coupled to a ↓ threshold for peripheral afferent pain terminals; windup may be mediated by excitatory amino acid neurotransmitters and or his arm motion. "A pitcher should think 'fastball' and make it seem like that's what is being thrown," Aucoin said. "That's how you'll fool a batter." How to Throw a Circle Change-Up The key to the change-up is how you grip the ball. Here's how to throw the "circle change-up," the most common form of this pitch. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Strike One! Hold the ball in your palm as deeply as you can, allowing your pinky, middle finger, and ring finger to rest over the top of the ball. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Strike Two! Grip the ball by allowing your thumb and index finger to come together on the side of the ball. This pitch is called the circle change-up because these two fingers form a circle. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Strike Three! Keep your grip hidden in your glove glove, hand covering with a separate sheath for each finger. The earliest gloves, relics of the cave dwellers, closely resembled bags. Reaching to the elbow, they were most probably worn solely for protection and warmth. , and keep the glove close to your chest. (A clever batter who can see your grip would know which pitch you're about to throw.) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You're Out! Wind up and release the ball just as you would a normal pitch. Remember, if it appears that you're throwing a fastball, the batter is more likely to be fooled. Keep Practicing To develop your control of the changeup change·up n. Baseball A pitch intended to look like a fastball, which actually approaches the plate at a slow speed, thereby causing the batter to swing prematurely. [Alteration of change-of-pace.] , stand on flat ground about thirty feet from a target. Throw directly at the target. Change the location of the target every five pitches or so. You'll be the ace of the pitching staff in no time! Art by Geoffrey Brittingham |
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