Stuggling with change-up

10u DD has been working on flip for about a year. It was bad for first 9 mths. Then we changed our practice routine. Get a bucket of balls and a laundry basket. Put basket behind home plate do 9 oclock drills (up downs) from 5 ft away. Once she makes 5 in basket back up another 5 ft and repeat. at 20ft add windmill with a step and light drag. Same goal to make 5 in basket. At 30 35 and 40ft do full motion. At 40 ft full motion alternate fb cu for 40 or 50 pitches.we were doing this 3 days a week within a week we seen improvements within a mth it was a great pitch. Keep the ball low. Same arm speed and leap as fb. You would prefer she miss low. When she struggles at a given distance go closer have her make a few then move back again. Keep hand tight to hip at release. Follow thru across to opposite shoulder(hillhouse). Use a taped ball for feedback on spin. Do reverse chaining to show her how and when the hand gets backwards. Don't flip the wrist at release. Just let it come out. Good luck its a great pitch when she gets it right.

The trick to a lot of changeups, the flip included, is to stop the upper arm when the elbow is slightly behind the hip. This makes the entire pitching motion smoke and mirrors, done exactly like the fastball or any other pitch, but the actual effort behind the pitch is the motion of the lower arm from the elbow down. Pitchers that close too much will have a lot more difficulty with the change-up then pitchers that stay open, because pitchers that close will "reach" towards the catcher and let the elbow extend away from the body far more easily and this prevents them from throwing the pitch slowly enough to be effective (and it also makes the pitch float, which is BAD).

All that said, this pitch takes a lot of practice. I'm not sure what the expectations on progress are here, or how often the pitcher is practicing. Changing grips and learning another type of change-up will not help if the effort is not there.

-W

starsnuffer said:

The trick to a lot of changeups, the flip included, is to stop the upper arm when the elbow is slightly behind the hip. This makes the entire pitching motion smoke and mirrors, done exactly like the fastball or any other pitch, but the actual effort behind the pitch is the motion of the lower arm from the elbow down. Pitchers that close too much will have a lot more difficulty with the change-up then pitchers that stay open, because pitchers that close will "reach" towards the catcher and let the elbow extend away from the body far more easily and this prevents them from throwing the pitch slowly enough to be effective (and it also makes the pitch float, which is BAD).

All that said, this pitch takes a lot of practice. I'm not sure what the expectations on progress are here, or how often the pitcher is practicing. Changing grips and learning another type of change-up will not help if the effort is not there.

-W

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Closing too much might be part of the problem too. She was taking lessons last year from a girl that taught really closed mechanics. When she started playing with us I really worked with her on staying open and using IR. She has improved on staying open but might still be closing too much.

Stick with the flip you won't regret it. It took my 12U DD almost a year to get it down. I am not a fan of changing any part of the pitching motion for this pitch. The pitching motion should look the same as the fastball.

We almost gave up at one point, I am glad we didn't. She can now throw a flip that is 20 mph slower than her fastball for a strike (and her delivery looks identical for both).

Amy in AZ. said:

start her however close to the basket that she needs to be, to have some success. Then, scoot back little by little.
Tell her to "come hard." She wants the windup to look like a fastball. And then at the last instance "put the brakes on.".

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DD throws the backhanded change and it took a while to throw consistently. We did what Amy suggested over the period of several weeks. We started very close to each other (her throwing, me catching). We simply played underhand catch with her using the backhanded change motion. We still warm up this way. We start close then work our way back, as we do, we increase arm speed and leg drive. This was a process (and still is), but it does get better over time.

There are several different ways to throw a change up. If your DD is struggling with a backspin, I would suggest you try a knuckle, palm or circle change. The biggest concern with a change up is making it look like a fastball and getting an 8-10+ MPH speed differential.

Here is a link to a video of Joleen Henderson of Cal throwing her CU. The video is unedited , to see just her release go to the 48 sec mark. I have several pitchers I work with throwing this with success. They use various grips ranging from the circle grip to tucking the pointer and index fingers, depending on the size of their hands. The two main properties of throwing the CU this way is decel of the upper arm as in IR and the "scrunching" of the hand as Henderson does in the video. Think of the old cartoons where a character squeezed a banana and it pops out of its peel. I really wouldn't call this a turnaround but more of a flip CU. Hope this helps and good luck with whichever CU works for your DD. A good CU takes lots of work but it's probably the most useful, essential pitch she well learn. Here is the video link joleen cal CU release - YouTube

I like seeing that squeeze. Bet it helps keep the ball from getting stuck in the hand.

go4fpsb said:

Here is a link to a video of Joleen Henderson of Cal throwing her CU. The video is unedited , to see just her release go to the 48 sec mark. I have several pitchers I work with throwing this with success. They use various grips ranging from the circle grip to tucking the pointer and index fingers, depending on the size of their hands. The two main properties of throwing the CU this way is decel of the upper arm as in IR and the "scrunching" of the hand as Henderson does in the video. Think of the old cartoons where a character squeezed a banana and it pops out of its peel. I really wouldn't call this a turnaround but more of a flip CU. Hope this helps and good luck with whichever CU works for your DD. A good CU takes lots of work but it's probably the most useful, essential pitch she well learn. Here is the video link joleen cal CU release - YouTube

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Thanks go4fpsb.

Kyle Jamieson, the new head coach at Furman, did a pitching clinic last weekend in GA. He was a pitcher on the Canadian National fastpitch team (see biography link below). He taught my DD to throw a change up by pushing the ball deep into her palm and squeezing it tight, like she was trying to squeeze the juice out of an orange. This tenses up the forearm and locks her wrist, then she throws it just like a fastball. We tried it last night at her pitching lesson and it worked amazingly well. It looks exactly like a fastball delivery and was 8-10 MPH slower. My DD was accurate enough with it in one lesson that I would feel comfortable calling it in a game, which is amazing considering it took her 6+ months of practice to throw a decent backhand change up.

Furman Names Kyle Jamieson As Head Softball Coach - FurmanPaladins.com