- Aug 21, 2008
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When are you generally looking to throw a change? 1st pitch, 2nd pitch? Which counts etc
That's the cat and mouse aspect. We throw a change up when we KNOW with full belief the hitter is going to swing. And if we know they're gonna swing the last thing we wanna do is throw it in or near the zone. 0-2 count typically means the hitter is not going to swing full blast, sometimes they shorten way way up just for contact. When they're simply looking for contact by shortening way up, the change up will be less effective. It's usually less effective with a hitter taking a shorter swing.
So, there's no such thing as a perfect situation. Sometimes a pitcher can just see it in the hitter's eyes, they're gonna swing and they shake off the sign until they get the change up. Sometimes the catcher can see or detect something from the hitter that they'll be swinging.