Change Up

[RobD]

The other night our high school team played against a team whos pitcher could throw hard and is pretty accurate. She is working on a change up yet. She is trying to throw the back handed flip chane up, and when she did, she dropped around 25 mph off her pitches. I did check her with a radar gun. She is a freshman. My question here is...How much of a speed drop is there when going from a fast ball to the change up? My daughter who is also a freshman drops around 10mph when she throws hers.

Rob

 

[Coach Al]

IMHO a drop in speed of 25 mph is like throwing a beach ball. If a batter had seen it before and can wait on it, Hello Fence!

 

[GOINGDEEP]

My opinion, should be 75% of her fastball.

 

[Coach JV]

My dd throws fb at 52-54 mph. Change comes in at 42 ish

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Do you feel like she is throwing that slow w/o changing her arm circle? The speed of the arm circle should remain the same or get faster, if possible.

 

[SBDadSanDiego]

I would love to see a 25mph speed change, without major telegraphing in mechanics.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

I'm very suprised that a high school pitcher would not already have a change-up? What pitches is she using to get batters out? My 8 yo will soon be starting to learn the c/u because the best hitters (very aggresive with good contact) in our league can catch up to her fastball.

 

[mrslug01]

Ueno throws in the 70's and I've seen her change come in high 40's low 50's on TV so it's possible.

 

[Coach JV]

Arm speed is the same, flip release is the key. Keep in mind, it is not necessarily thrown for a strike
but it sets up the next pitch nicely

 

[RobD]

This girl is a freshman and uses mostly a fastball now. She throws consistant 55's, which is pretty good around this area. She is learning the change up now and will be fine with time. The problem with her dropping so much off with this change up is once our batters saw it, they could sit back on it and hit it hard. A guy I work with and this girls dad are friends, so I got some of the scoop on her that way. Her dad coaches their summer travel team and dont believe in sending her to clinics or anything, so that may slow her progress some. I did get some slow motion video of her I can try to put up tonight, from the side only and you can look at her form. Im no pitching pro, but I think with a pitching coach, she could be very good. A good all around athlete.