CHANGING SPEEDS

Without a doubt, your most effective weapon against hitters is your change-up. It should be 8-12 mph slower than your fastball; but if you show hitters fastball arm speed, they will gauge their swing to hit a fastball. In order to show the arm speed necessary to fool hitters, you should think, "I'm throwing a fastball with a different grip." Your grip must do 100 percent of the job of slowing the ball down.

"Changing speeds changed my career and made me a successful pitcher." Dave Dravecky

Various grips can be used to throw the change, but all of them start with the ball in the palm of the hand (fig. 4-29). One variation is the three-fingered change (fig. 4-30)-three fingers on top of the ball, the thumb underneath, and the little finger along the side. The circle change is so named because the index finger and thumb touch or nearly touch (fig. 4-31).

4-29. Every straight change-up begins with the ball in the palm of your hand. With the ball in your palm, you can't throw the ball as fast-and this is the idea behind all change-ups.

4-30. The three-fingered change is very popular in the major leagues and is easy to learn-for beginning pitchers.

4-31. One of the most popular and effective change-ups is the circle change. With this grip, the index finger and thumb touch or nearly touch. This change-up grip provides for excellent movement but is more difficult to master.

The split-fingered fastball is a great alternative for a change-up (it was meant to be a change in the first place).

Throw the change-up hard and down the middle of the plate (you should feel like you are throwing too hard). You want the hitter to swing at your change; if it is borderline, he may take it. If it is straight and has very little movement at first, who cares? It is the hand speed (arm speed) that fools the hitter. If you can develop a change-up that spins and looks like your fastball, you will find that it can be very effective.

Some young pitchers think changing speeds is for wimps. Major league pitchers tell me, "God, I wish someone had made me throw a change-up sooner."

Developing any change-up takes time. You should play catch using your change daily until you feel comfortable with it. Your coach should insist that you throw somewhere between 10 percent and 20 percent change-ups during a typical game. Many pitchers will resist this, and it will become a catch-22 situation: they can't throw their change for a strike, so they don't want to use it; and they don't want to use it because they can't throw it for a strike. You may think, "I'll throw it next game." But before you know it, the season is over, and then it's "Wait until next year." Force yourself to throw your change-up.

Every year, the biggest winners in the big leagues have good change-ups. Pitchers such as Greg Maddux, Doug Drabek, and Tom Glavine throw their changes 15 percent to 40 percent of the time, depending on the team they are facing.

In summary, here are some points to remember when you're working on your change-up.