Best way to hit a change-up

[SpeedyKat]

Hi all, I hope I posted this in the right forum. In my league, there's this one pitcher on one team that has a wicked change-up. She made a fool out of my entire team last week with that pitch. Bottom line, she literally struck all of us out of the game.

My question is, if you're getting ready to swing (and there were no clear indications of her throwing a change-up) but then you realize at almost mid-swing that it's pretty dang slow (compared to her fastball), how do you recover in time to hit the ball? Do you just go ahead and try to salvage what you can even though you know it will be a strike or a weak hit? What if it will be a third strike?

I have noticed that she does this often whenever the batter has two strikes in their pocket so that gave us a heads-up but still catches us off-guard though.

Suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[cshilt]

Well, the best way to hit a change-up is to know it is coming. Look and see if she is tipping her pitch and knowing her tendencies is a good start.

I used to tell my girls "if it looks funny, don't swing at it" when they were 10U and the change was rarely thrown for a strike. Now, I want them to foul it off if they can't get a good swing at it. The key, of course, is early recognition of the pitch.

 

[Mark H]

cshilt is right. I would add that having a quick swing from the start of the bat head into the swing plane till contact makes a big difference. Many youth hitters have a seven frame swing by this measure using standard 30fps video. You need a five frame swing or better. This gives you more time to watch ball flight before decision time. There are ways to adjust physically. A couple of ways are slightly delaying the transfer of hip rotation to the shoulders, sitting down and into the front leg slightly longer before rotation or some combination. I'd back up from there though. People ask me how do I hit the off speed or the rise etc. I tell them show me you can consistently drive something fast in your sweet spot with a five frame or quicker swing. If you can do that, I bet we can teach you how to hit the pitcher's pitches a lot easier.

Picking, reading, patterning pitchers and the like is another area for discussion as well.

 

[Ken Krause]

When I was at one of the NFCA coaches college classes, the coaches there said they don't worry about the changeup, particularly early in the game. Scott Centala in particular said he likes his hitters to "sit firm," in other words go to hit speed and let the changeups go. That way you have less to think about at the plate. If you're worried about the change, you may also miss some better pitches to hit.

Another thing you can do is look for patterns. Does she throw a changeup to every hitter? If so, go to the plate looking for it. Crank a few of them to the outfield and she won't throw it anymore.

If you can get smart runners on base, a third strategy is to have them steal every time she throws a change. If the other team is giving up bases on every change, they'll quit throwing them then, too.

 

[vdubya]

May sound a little odd, but the best way to deal with a changeup pitcher is to never see her changeup. There are ways around it--not entirely of course but you can limit it's devastation. How?

How about hitting that first fastball she gave you. What was wrong with that? Put it in center field and you never whiff at the CU. You also do the next batter a favor in doing this. Now you are a baserunner on first and a steal threat. Catcher wants a fast pitch to have a chance at burning the runner if she goes. So...next batter probably gets a pitch or 2 to hit that doesn't have her off balance. What about laying down a sac bunt or slap? The change of speed does not make a bunter miss.

One key here is either scouting or to recognize a changeup pitcher early on and try to deal wit hit. As a coach, re-evaluate the notion of having batters 'take' a pitch. Tell them to smash what they can. Steal a little more aggressively to draw more on-speed pitches.

Note that I am only talking about pitchers with a 'real' changeup here...one that is as consistent as a fastball for a called strike...one that isn't lobbed in there like a slow pitch with an arc well higher than the hitters chin where a few inexperienced dads say "ooooooo" (very easy to watch for a called ball)...one that is deceptive and looks fastball level and is a low strike whether you swing or not. You will get burned by some of these no matter what. Those without a mastery of throwing the pitch will use it only when ahead in the count, so don't let them get ahead. Some have only a mediocre speed fastball but can keep even the most elite teams off balance because they count on the CU on ANY count. They throw it on full count often, but not predictably so. They sometimes throws 2 or 3 in a row and really keep people guessing. It makes a mediocre fastball better in that it rarely ever gets hit hard. Yes a really great Cu can be devastating. My pitcher owns that pitch. It is a beast. Try to avoid it and hit something else is my advice. If you have trained a bunch of front leg hitters with their weight forward...forget a decent batting average against a good CU pitcher.

VW
Disclaimer: I'm no expert and I continually prove it...just my 2 cents.

 

[SBFAMILY]

I have got to work with a couple of very good hitting coaches over the years and one that has some good drills on seeing the change up coming is Dave Paetkau. You can work on vision drills and some kids do give away the change up as posted above. The one that he likes to use is the back hand change up and seeing no yellow at release.
It does work. The drill to hit a change up cshilt and I were taught by another hitting coach.
I use a milk jug instead of the small T. Set a ball on the outside corner of the plate, where most try to throw the change up. Two ways to do the drill. Soft toss and when you do not release the ball, Yell Change and they must go down and hit the ball on the T. Or do it in a cage, and as you put the ball in the machine do the same thing. They must go down after the ball. I have worked with kids that couldn't hit a change up and after this drill , they no longer feared the change up. I cannot stress enough vision drills. Most of the elite players do these drills and can see the ball better.

 

[Mark H]

Lots of good and valid things said in this thread. I would like to reemphasize though the point that, if you can't put a five frame swing on a middle middle normal speed pitch, you don't need to be working on how to hit a change up. Priorities.

 

[MountieSB]

Hitting a changeup

Good thoughts posted on here, especially laying off of it with less than two strikes. As for whether or not you should teach hitting a changeup, the reality is you're going to see them, and if you have aggressive hitters (like my teams do) you should give them some tools to deal with it.

We use a drill that combines Patrick Murphy's "Stay back!" vocal cue (players literally say, "Stay back" when you see the changeup coming) with a modified soft toss. It works like this:

When doing soft toss to front hip and back hip, every once in a while we have the tosser throw a "change up," which is simulated by throwing the ball higher than the other tosses. The hitters have already gone to toe touch and are beginning to transfer their weight, but the hitter calls, "Stay back!" (hands stay back) and the hitter WAITS for the ball to come into the strike zone before they fully transfer weight and release the hands.

Be sure that your players wait until the ball comes into the hitting zone, otherwise you'll see them swinging at balls at eye level, which would be their normal timing if the toss were made normally. They have to wait until it comes into the strike zone, or there is no positive effect on timing a change up. We then move to front toss simulating changeups, and it seems to work.

I still agree with lay off of it, but at the high school level, most pitchers use it with two strikes, so we have to learn to deal with it.

 

[Coach Lia]

Learning how to hit a change up should be done during practice. It would be difficult for a batter to make adjustments on the game itself. It's all about ball tracking and controlling the swing. Make sure to tell your players not to change their swing but just their timing on rotation. When you have toss batting by the net make sure to have variation on the speed of the tossed ball. Live hitting with a pitcher during practices would be a big help as well.

In hitting all the batter has to do is just wait on the ball then swing as it approaches the plate.

 

[RayR]

If you are dealing with hitters that are unloading the upper body before getting the front foot down there is little chance they will be able to hold up the swing for a change up.

Players that learn to get the front foot down before committing to the swing have the best chance even when fooled.

Here is a clip to illustrate: