Changeup - 10U DD Struggling W/Changeups - What is the easiest grip, etc???

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Jun 15, 2016
48
6
My 10yr old is relatively new to pitching. She started with a pitching coach 8 months ago. They started the changeup a couple of weeks into lessons. She has amazing control and average speed with her FB considering her experience level and size. However she cant get the changeup down to save her life. Shes tried a couple of different grips/releases and none have developed. Most recently shes trying what her pitching coach calls a flip change. Her instructions are to flip the ball with an overhand grip around her hips at release. She is doing exactly that but the balls are still coming in at 36-40 MPH which is the same as her FB. Latest tip from pitching coach was to do the wrist flips into the ground and make the ball roll back to you. Shes doing the drill as directed and still no change. Does anyone have tips, secrets, instructions for a 10yr old learning the changeup? Thanks in advance for any help
 

shaker1

Softball Junkie
Dec 4, 2014
894
18
On a bucket
The flip change must be very hard pitch to master. I know girls that have pitched for several years that still throw it straight up in the air from time to time. There is alot of good info here, and you'll get several good replys. In the meantime, do a search of this site on horseshoe change and see what comes up.
 
Nov 3, 2012
480
16
My 10yr old is relatively new to pitching. She started with a pitching coach 8 months ago. They started the changeup a couple of weeks into lessons. She has amazing control and average speed with her FB considering her experience level and size. However she cant get the changeup down to save her life. Shes tried a couple of different grips/releases and none have developed. Most recently shes trying what her pitching coach calls a flip change. Her instructions are to flip the ball with an overhand grip around her hips at release. She is doing exactly that but the balls are still coming in at 36-40 MPH which is the same as her FB. Latest tip from pitching coach was to do the wrist flips into the ground and make the ball roll back to you. Shes doing the drill as directed and still no change. Does anyone have tips, secrets, instructions for a 10yr old learning the changeup? Thanks in advance for any help

My 15 year old struggles with the changeup. From my experience, this harder to learn than it looks. It will take a while to master this, so be patient. I don't recall many 12u girls with good change ups, so stay patient. Pick one and keep practicing.

Id recommend the flip as you have to keep the arm moving without cheating. This biggest problem is that the kids want to slow the ball down, so they slow the arm down. Hitters pick up on this.
At 10U, control is going to be your issue when using the flip. Note we've gone through 3 or 4 different changes in our 5 years of pitching. What's worked for us, we went back to a horse shoe grip and then she threw it with the circle or side of hand was facing the batter. Eventually we rotated the wrist so the backhand faces the batter.

Note our old pitching coach who used to pitch knew how to throw more than 10 change ups. Seems like every lesson he would show a different one. Drove me nuts. I say pick one and stay with it.
 
Last edited:
Mar 23, 2014
621
18
SoCal
DD struggled with the flip change. When it was on it was beautiful and devastating to batters. Problem - it wasn't on often.
We learned the Pauly change up and it's been working. She's even thrown it with a 3-2 count for a strikeout. The key it to keep the body moving at fastball speed, blow past the brush, crook and push the ball out with fingers "paralyzed". They way DD throws it causes it to drop as well. So much so that our catcher this season would shake off the pitch. Yeah - catcher shaking off a pitch.
 
May 15, 2014
135
16
Atlanta
My daughter's PC will not teach the flip since she says its very hard to learn and doesn't come out right most of the time. The few girls I have seen that throw it, a majority of the time it hits the backstop. When mine was 10, she learned the horse shoe CU which has worked really well for her.
 
Aug 21, 2011
1,345
38
38°41'44"N 121°9'47.5"W
The wrist should be stiff and the arm motion should be the same speed. I usually tell them to throw the flip harder than their fastball just to keep them from slowing their arms down.
 
Apr 12, 2015
792
93
Typically, a girl will master the drop, curve and rise way before she can consistently throw a flip change for a strike. Taught my DD the horse shoe change and never looked back.
 
Jun 15, 2016
48
6
Thanks for all of the comments. Many of the suggestions are the same as the ones from PC. We had a lesson yesterday and the PC broke the movement down and had DD pitch. She quickly realized DD was waiting to late to rotate her wrist to backhand. So she has been releasing the ball out of the side of her hand rather than four finger straight at batter. Once DD started rotating her wrist earlier in the motion she started throwing decent a change-up. Speed was 30-32. Does this make sense? I'm going to get some before and after footage to post.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
If she can throw a flip change the same as her FB, I would be looking at her FB.

No way she should be able to have the back of her hand facing the plate go the same speed.

Just a thought.
 
Feb 17, 2014
551
28
My DD has gone back and forth with her CU. Tried a few and has had the most success throwing a circle change. This is the one she is going to stick with at this point.

Another pitcher on DD's team throws a flip change and it is not very effective. Good hitters can see it coming and they have the discipline to wait on it. She will fool an occasional batter with it, but I am seeing good hitters crush it.
 

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