Softball Pitching - If You Can't Throw It Hard It's Not a ChangeUp

Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

Lately I’ve had the opportunity to get out and watch some games – some with pitchers I coach, some with pitchers I don’t. It’s a great opportunity to take everything out of the theoretical (practice phase) and see it applied in a game.

One of the things that most amazes me is how many pitchers still are either taught or are picking up the habit of slowing down their arms or otherwise changing their deliveries when they throw a changeup. Sometimes they don’t push off as hard, sometimes they leave their back legs behind, sometimes they just slow down or stop the arm completely. Whatever they do, it’s obvious they’re not throwing the same way as on a fastball or other speed pitch.

Usually, those “changeups” get hit pretty hard. The reason is the change is all about deception. The hitter has to see what she’s used to seeing out of the body, then have the ball do something it hasn’t been doing. It also helps if the body/arm speed and ball speed don’t match.

Which brings me to my main point.

Unless you can throw whatever changeup you’re throwing with 100 percent enthusiasm, it’s not a changeup.

It might be an off-speed pitch, but that’s about it.

If you have to take any effort out of what you’re throwing, you need to learn a different pitch. Sure, it might work for a while, but as soon as the hitters get halfway decent you’re going to see it getting pounded. At that point, you’d better make sure you have one of those masks in case it’s getting pounded straight back up the middle.

The upside is when you do learn a better change, it will be a lot more effective. In fact, you will likely wind up freezing the hitters as often as you get them to swing through. Just don’t be surprised if the umpire gets fooled too. At that point don’t get mad. Just take it as a compliment!