I think there are several reasons the change up is not used properly by pitchers and coaches. I think many times the parents get caught up in throwing 6 pitches at a young age and the change up is not one of those sexy pitches to mention. I think coaches don’t understand the effectiveness of the change up and rarely use it at the younger ages. They just want to see fastballs and call movement because all the best young pitchers have 6 pitches. So the kids and parents never really put in the time to master the change since the coach never calls it. Then as they get older why work on a 10u pitch when I’m old enough to throw high fastballs that some call a rise. For us we are completely the opposite and my DD going into 14u is one of those boring pitchers that basically has 2 pitches. She has some others we are working on and throw some in games to get them ready as she gets older. But it’s kinda satisfying to watch her shut down some of the top teams in the nation with just 2 boring pitches. Although I must say she has very elite speed so that helps and makes change of speed much more dramatic.
If a ChangeUp is the second pitch every budding young pitcher learns...
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- May 27, 2013
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DD’s bread and butter pitch. Can throw it like a slow drop curve as well.
I taught her a knuckle change several years ago. She could throw that pitch on any count. PC said to change it, didn’t like her knuckles on the ball, felt teams would pick it up. Worked on the CU he taught For months which would be good some days, not so good other days. Finally told PC she wanted to go back to her old CU. He watched her throw it and was amazed. Agreed it was difficult to pickup with the way she bends her wrist in her windup. Just wish the coach would call it more. When I called pitches every batter probably saw at least two. It was also her go-to first pitch strike and 3-2 count pitch. Plays 18U Gold level. Gets a lot of weak grounders or pop flies with that pitch.
I taught her a knuckle change several years ago. She could throw that pitch on any count. PC said to change it, didn’t like her knuckles on the ball, felt teams would pick it up. Worked on the CU he taught For months which would be good some days, not so good other days. Finally told PC she wanted to go back to her old CU. He watched her throw it and was amazed. Agreed it was difficult to pickup with the way she bends her wrist in her windup. Just wish the coach would call it more. When I called pitches every batter probably saw at least two. It was also her go-to first pitch strike and 3-2 count pitch. Plays 18U Gold level. Gets a lot of weak grounders or pop flies with that pitch.
