How to Throw a Changeup Style Pitch

Series Summary

Pitchers are the most sought after of all baseball players. The act of throwing a baseball is unnatural and can cause serious injury, hence the need for pitching. Throwing a baseball 90 plus miles-an-hour used to mean a guaranteed million dollar contract. Remember, major league hitters are good at adjusting and may plant that 93 mile-an-hour fastball in the upper deck of the left field pavilion. What is a pitcher to do? Add more pitches! A major league pitcher knows the key to survival is having at least three pitches mastered. The most common in a pitcher's stable are the fastball, curveball and change up. In this free video series on baseball, let a professional baseball instructor explain the many different pitches that can be thrown in a baseball game. Learn about the many variations of the fastball, curveball, knuckleball and slider. Each pitches serves a purpose and when thrown properly can leave any batter with their knees buckling.

Video Transcript

"The grip should be gotten in the glove, so that the opposing players and coaches, cannot see what grip you're using, so as you're getting your signal, and you're on the rubber, and on the mound prepared to throw the pitch, the glove should be held in basically, this position, to obscure the hand and the grip, so that they can't tell which pitch that you are throwing. The changeup is a pitch,that's named changeup, because it basically changes speeds. There is some movement involved, but basically, the changeup is a slower pitch, than what is traditionally thrown in the fastball mode, or what the pitcher might throw, as a fastball. The situation, is anytime that the batter would be expecting a fastball, is an appropriate time to throw a changeup, especially when you're behind in the count, like a two in one count, or a three in one count, because generally, they're looking for a fastball, at that time. There are very various ways of throwing, or gripping the changeup. The most traditional changeup grip, is the circle change. Basically, you place your largest finger on the seam, into the horseshoe. The first finger goes outside the ball, in this position. The second finger goes outside the ball in this position, and you make a small circle with your thumb, and your first finger, and that is the basic grip, for a circle change. A box change is much similar to the circle change, other than you don't make the circle. You simply box the ball with your fingers, surrounding the ball. The falcon change is where that both fingers are split severely, the middle fingers, and the first and last fingers, are severely outside the ball, and that's traditionally known as the falcon change, and then there's the choke change, which is a little bit like the box change, but held way back into the hand and choked down, almost like a palm ball."