Off-speed pitches are a must for a pitcher to be successful. While we recommend adding change ups into your daily warm-up routine, it is important, especially when learning the pitch, to work on the release and feeling the ball come out with less power while the rest of the pitch feels identical to your fastball.
These are the steps we use to teach pitchers a change up or to improve their release.
This video goes more in depth with each change release and shows you how to get started with each one. The release makes this pitch, so be mindful when breaking it down.
Spend a bit of time playing with these releases to really figure out the right changeup for you. If you're stuck between two, work on both for a while and then decide.
Once you get a feel for the changeup release you like, it’s time to move back into some easy arm circles. This video covers what to focus on when you move on to this step.
Move on once it feels right 80% of the time.
The last step before throwing your change up from the mound, start a couple feet in front of the pitching rubber working on your release, throwing hard, and feeling it be the same as your fastball.
Get 80% consistency before moving on.
The best way to master a change is to constantly mix it with other pitches. Even when you first start throwing it, mix it with your fastball to keep feeling your timing. If you've done the complete progression, you know how to release it, so it's all a matter of throwing it like normal. Here, we mix it with our fastball and talk about the key things to focus on.
The first step in learning a changeup is understanding the role of the pitch and what’s actually important when throwing it. In this video, we go over the four most common types of change ups thrown and what we want to look for in each.
The next video goes over how to get started with the change. If you're just learning it or don’t like your current one, try all of the releases and see what clicks.