Throwing Change Ups in Batting Practice

[Hoover's Dad]

My daughter is playing on a 10U travel ball team and has been facing some pretty dominating pitching the last couple of tournaments. This is the first time that she is seeing "good change ups" and they are cork screwing her in the ground.

She hits BP at least 3 days a week on her own with me, I cannot pitch the ball in a full circle motion, but I pitch it from a close distance pretty fast. I give her a flip change every once in a while, or at least the best that I can do.

My question is, what is the best way to prepare a young hitter for facing 48+mph fastballs then a change up.

 

[CoachKevin]

Learn how to throw windmill and learn a change up. I throw a lot of BP and I mix in quite a few change-ups. Only way to prepare is to practice

 

[softballphreak]

One thing that will help is to practice hitting the ball deeper in the zone.

Set up a traffic cone or tee with a ball on it across the plate from the batter somewhere between the inside front foot and the center line of the body. Pitch to her like you've been doing and have her wait to hit it at the point you have the tee set.

Once she gets use to that, if it's a change up and she's a little early, the ball will still be in the path of the bat.

 

[Jim]

To get better at a timing issue (change ups) you have to work at hitting both speeds in practice. Throw her change ups and fastballs (mix them up) as you have been. Mix locations as well. Also mix in balls out of the zone for her to take. Balance and timing are what you want to work on to stay on the change up.

 

[starsnuffer]

Pitch recognition is the first step. Find a pitcher or two that throws good changeups. Ask if your daughter can stand in the batters box during her pitching practice (with a helmet on, with or without a bat so long as she isn't swinging). Usually the instructor will have the pitcher warm up her pitches one at a time, and then practice alternating between them. She should get plenty of looks and be able to identify the differences. The more pitches she sees, the better of a hitter she can become.

The best change ups will come in straight and then die on the plate (literally falling on the plate after crossing the bottom of the zone for a strike), so if she recognizes a change-up, she'll know to lay off, or if it's strike 2, to foul it off. If you're lucky enough to go against lousy change-up pitchers that come in higher in the zone, then waiting, re-loading, and hitting them deeper is a great option. . . but then you're being dependent on bad pitching.

-W

 

[Jdaddy]

DD also plays 10U travel ball and we have found that 75 percent of the change ups we see come on two strike pitches. Watch the pitcher, find her tendencies, and have your DD know when to look for the change up. If she gets a fastball, she can still foul it off. If the change is coming then its stay back and fire the hips!

 

[BBRB]

My daughter is playing on a 10U travel ball team and has been facing some pretty dominating pitching the last couple of tournaments. This is the first time that she is seeing "good change ups" and they are cork screwing her in the ground.

She hits BP at least 3 days a week on her own with me, I cannot pitch the ball in a full circle motion, but I pitch it from a close distance pretty fast. I give her a flip change every once in a while, or at least the best that I can do.

My question is, what is the best way to prepare a young hitter for facing 48+mph fastballs then a change up.

One thing that works pretty well if you can't windmill is to FAKE PITCH periodically and watch to see that she is able to stay back and balanced

 

[shockcoach]

My advice is to have your child lay off the pitch all together unless it's thrown on a count with 2 strikes. Many coaches use this pitch to get strike three. I don't agree with that philosophy because the CU is a setup pitch to make the FB seem that much faster, but that's for another post.

In order to hit it, the batter must keep their weight back an wait on it. Practice and recognition are key. If a pitcher has a good change up in 10-12U, watch out!

 

[softballphreak]

My advice is to have your child lay off the pitch all together unless it's thrown on a count with 2 strikes. Many coaches use this pitch to get strike three. I don't agree with that philosophy because the CU is a setup pitch to make the FB seem that much faster, but that's for another post.

In order to hit it, the batter must keep their weight back an wait on it. Practice and recognition are key. If a pitcher has a good change up in 10-12U, watch out!

Start that post. It sounds like that may interesting. I think of a FB as a setup for the CU.