My 2001 DD is a first year 12U pitcher. She's very small with average velocity but is a competitor who's good at hitting locations and keeping hitters off balance. She's been working on a flip change for about a year. Its been somewhat effective but the problem is that it floats so slow that the hitters see it coming. She's tried some others, shove, circle, the problem is that her hands are so small that she already holds a 12" ball pretty close to her palm so those types of pitches don't seem to provide much change of speed. Ideas?
Change up advice
- Thread starter Axe
- Start date
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Axe, can you post a video so we can see how she's throwing her flip change? There may be some adjustments that can be made there. One thing I'd suggest sight unseen is perhaps releasing it a little sooner. That should add a little speed to it. The closer you are to the normal release point (ordinarily) the faster the pitch comes in. Also, is she maintaining her arm speed to throw it? In other words, is her arm speed for the change the same as for the fastball? If not, that would not only help with the pitch speed but would disguise it better.
- Feb 5, 2010
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In one of the clinics with Hillhouse he mentions how to resovle that issue and it works great. You need to find the middle ground with the flip. The clip is on fastpitch tv I forget the episode number. I think every girl goes through this at some point when they start out with the flip. She is on the cusp of a great change, if it works now, just wait till she gets the big ark out of it.
- May 17, 2012
- 2,803
- 113
Stick with the flip change you won't regret it. It doesn't matter if she is throwing it slow or with an arch. My daughter is a second year 12U and she just went through the same issues. She is very small (70 lbs) and used to grip the ball with four fingers (and the ball shoved back in her hand).
She can now throw the change with 3 fingers and throw it on a straight line.
The thing is with the change is that it doesn't matter how slow she throws it. It doesn't even matter if the batter knows it's coming. It's very difficult to hit a flip change that's 15 MPH slower than your fastball. The only thing she should be focusing on at this point is throwing it for a strike.
In a year and a half of throwing a very slow flip change there has only been ONE batter that has hit her change-up hard (it was a triple). She throws at least 1-2 change-ups to each batter.
It's by far the hardest pitch to hit it fast-pitch, even if you know it's coming.
- Jul 26, 2010
- 3,553
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The change, at that age, should either land outside or in the dirt. If it's floating over the plate she's missing her spot. At that age, you're not trying to get a called strike, you're trying to get them to swing.
-W
-W
- Jul 17, 2012
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If your change up is a floating arc, I wouldn't recommend throwing it over the plate, especially if your going to throw it once or twice to each hitter. Sounds like a recipe for lot of balls bouncing off the fence if you are playing a good, well coached team. I'd send every hitter to the plate sitting on a change until she stopped throwing it.
Where would you say it should be coming to a right handed batter? in or out, & high or low ?
- May 17, 2012
- 2,803
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I completely disagree. Most girls at that age (first year 12U) have not seen a real changeup. Most girls tend to duck when they see it coming the first time. After the first at bat even if they know it's coming most girls are not disciplined to sit on it. Throw it for a strike until they can hit it.
- May 17, 2012
- 2,803
- 113
While that sounds good in theory unless you are specifically practicing hitting the changeup at 11 it just doesn't happen. Our strategy on the good hitters (typically the three or the four hitter) is to throw first pitch changeups. I have never had one of those hitters hit it for an extra base hit.
My uneducated theory is that if the change up wasn't coming in with a slight arch it would be easier to hit. Take a travel ball player and put her in a rec game and see how well she hits her first few at bats when the fastballs are slow and arching. It makes them look silly until (if) they adjust.
Just my humble observations.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
I’m not a big fan of a CU that can’t be controlled well enough to be thrown for a borderline strike.
At your daughter’s age, I personally like the pitch thrown low-and-away.
As for change-ups in general … removing the whipping action by desequencing is key.
Here Brianne McGowan demonstrates her change-up.
You shouldn’t be able to detect that this is a change-up until just after her 12-o’clock position.
Notice that at release the hand is beside the ball with the palm orientated towards 1B. You’ll see that in many, but not all, CUs.
A common approach to teaching effective change-ups is to give the pitcher the objective of getting to the above orientation with the palm directed towards 1B (RH pitcher), with the emphasis of not trying to realize that goal until after reaching the 12-o'clock position.
Here’s Kirk Walker speaking on the use of desequencing to remove the whip from the pitch.
At your daughter’s age, I personally like the pitch thrown low-and-away.
As for change-ups in general … removing the whipping action by desequencing is key.
Here Brianne McGowan demonstrates her change-up.
You shouldn’t be able to detect that this is a change-up until just after her 12-o’clock position.
Notice that at release the hand is beside the ball with the palm orientated towards 1B. You’ll see that in many, but not all, CUs.
A common approach to teaching effective change-ups is to give the pitcher the objective of getting to the above orientation with the palm directed towards 1B (RH pitcher), with the emphasis of not trying to realize that goal until after reaching the 12-o'clock position.
Here’s Kirk Walker speaking on the use of desequencing to remove the whip from the pitch.
