Change-up Help

[Fury_Mike]

When learning the change, pitchers tend to extend/straighten their arm to the catcher (guiding the ball) and ultimately let go of it way out in front of their front hip. Depending on the change up, as the arm enters the down swing, and the ball moves in front of the elbow, I have them release as it passes the back hip, and maintain some rigidity/bend in the elbow

 

[Fury_Mike]

Ken, coincidently, I just read your
Fastpitch tip for learning the finish of a backhand changeup
That's exactly what I meant by bending the elbow

 

[jmpauter]

DD is a first year 16U, and we've run through quite a few different change-ups. First was a horseshoe, then over the winter one year she just totally lost the feel for that one. Second was a knuckle change, that worked for one year but was just OK, so decided to look for something better. Third was the flip, worked on that one for a good 9-10 months or more, and she just could not get a feel for that one. Forth, back to the horseshoe again

The horseshoe is getting much more consistent, for her the biggest issue is when she slows her whole motion down to throw the change-up. When she goes full speed and sells it like a fastball with her motion it works really well. When she slows down her motion it sails high every time. Just have to remind her that the speed difference doesn't come from slowing down the motion, it comes from the grip and release.

 

[Ken B]

Brush is another key to consistency. Like any other pitch, without it, you have no consistent trigger for release.

 

[Quasimodo]

Building off of that, a similar idea is to force the hand to get ahead of the elbow at release. In other words, when the elbow leads on the way down, you get the whip into release. If the hand leads, you effectively kill the whip. Then, you can experiment with releasing the ball out the pinky side of the hand or just adding a little spin by pulling across the top of the ball.

I was pressed for time and didn't read others posts! This is one I wish I had, because that is an element I teach a lot. And at that point you can experiment with forearm extension at the target, none, more or less, whatever works.

 

[Quasimodo]

Ken, coincidently, I just read your
Fastpitch tip for learning the finish of a backhand changeup
That's exactly what I meant by bending the elbow

Just saw it, and exactly as I teach it. I have some girls struggle with the back of the hand, and some end up with a horseshoe. The bent elbow is essential. But not "flipping" and keeping the forearm extension low is key.

 

[lhowser]

DD is a first year 16U, and we've run through quite a few different change-ups. First was a horseshoe, then over the winter one year she just totally lost the feel for that one. Second was a knuckle change, that worked for one year but was just OK, so decided to look for something better. Third was the flip, worked on that one for a good 9-10 months or more, and she just could not get a feel for that one. Forth, back to the horseshoe again

The horseshoe is getting much more consistent, for her the biggest issue is when she slows her whole motion down to throw the change-up. When she goes full speed and sells it like a fastball with her motion it works really well. When she slows down her motion it sails high every time. Just have to remind her that the speed difference doesn't come from slowing down the motion, it comes from the grip and release.

There are a lot of smart people on this forum with great suggestions. But in your case consider not making the "horseshoe" the focus but instead what happens when you work around and to the front of the ball. You'll get the horseshoe and even more consistent ( see my earlier post on this thread)

 

[Hillhouse]

The change up discussions are always interesting to me. I get to see all of the descriptions of each change up: This one is a "horseshoe". This one she puts her knuckles on it. Etc.

All of that is well and good but it doesn't tell me how you took the speed off the ball. Gripping a ball by the "horseshoe" does almost nothing for reducing speed into a change up. SOMETHING else is happening to make the ball go slow. She locked her wrist, doesn't whip the arm, or whatever are all acceptable answers. But, to say "horseshoe" doesn't tell me a lot. And, i'll take it one step further since I'm in the mood. For almost all change ups, the grip on the ball is completely irrelevant. SOMETHING else is done to take speed off the ball, not your grip. I guarantee someone who claims to throw a "horseshoe" will get the exact same result with a different grip. The grip doesn't matter if the wrist gets locked, if the arm doesn't whip, if the wrist flips backward, or whatever. The speed is reduced by something other than your grip on the ball so lets stop pretending there is a right or wrong grip. If she's not "getting it" with whatever change up she's working on, altering the grip won't matter. It's a new release that she needs not a new grip of the ball.

 

[lhowser]

The change up discussions are always interesting to me. I get to see all of the descriptions of each change up: This one is a "horseshoe". This one she puts her knuckles on it. Etc.

All of that is well and good but it doesn't tell me how you took the speed off the ball. Gripping a ball by the "horseshoe" does almost nothing for reducing speed into a change up. SOMETHING else is happening to make the ball go slow. She locked her wrist, doesn't whip the arm, or whatever are all acceptable answers. But, to say "horseshoe" doesn't tell me a lot. And, i'll take it one step further since I'm in the mood. For almost all change ups, the grip on the ball is completely irrelevant. SOMETHING else is done to take speed off the ball, not your grip. I guarantee someone who claims to throw a "horseshoe" will get the exact same result with a different grip. The grip doesn't matter if the wrist gets locked, if the arm doesn't whip, if the wrist flips backward, or whatever. The speed is reduced by something other than your grip on the ball so lets stop pretending there is a right or wrong grip. If she's not "getting it" with whatever change up she's working on, altering the grip won't matter. It's a new release that she needs not a new grip of the ball.

Horseshoe just refers to the position of the hand at release relative to the catcher's eyeballs. Your hand looks like a horseshoe. The speed is taken off because the fingers are not behind the ball to push it.

 

[Hillhouse]

lhowser, 99 of 100 people would describe the "horseshoe" as where they grip the ball.

In the above video, I do see what you're describing (fingers not behind the ball) but, I also see a Mike White type wrist lock which is actually preventing the snap.

This video could easily be seen as a MODIFIED style flip change.