Change up help

[fanboi22]

My dd is having trouble with learning the change up Pauley teaches, her biggest problem right now is she still is whipping the ball. She’s turning her hand to late, between 7 and 5 o’clock, instead is starting the turn much earlier. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to help her get her hand on the outside of the ball earlier?

For my DD who was seemingly doing the same thing as your DD was able to turn her hand better/faster when she tried to straighten her arm around the circle. This allowed her to not change any other motion except the IR with a straight arm happens quicker than w bent arm. It was the rollover curve type spin ArmWhip mentioned. I believe the rollover curve as described is more change up than curve. Find the slow motion Ueno clip for her change. That’s what we were attempting to do. My DD had this as her change up for a while but then stopped for a while and can’t get it back. Now she has more bullet spin. I liked the horizontal curve spin better.

 

[coachbubbles]

For my DD I have found over the years her two biggest problems with throwing the change-up have been:

1. Stiff arm. The arm has to be loose to have any kind of control.
2. Not throwing it full tilt. When she lets off the ball is all over the place.

She will tell you all day that her change is her best pitch (but the drop curve is a close second). She has thrown 4 different variations over the years but the last 2 have been the double knuckle. It comes in like a flying saucer and absolutely falls off the table. She is only able to execute this one because she has amazon hands though. She gets asked about her grip ALOT and seems to be in the minority when it comes to the ability to throw that one.

 

[ArmWhip]

Would this be considered just a drop curve?

IMO change ups are so hard because it’s pretty much the opposite of what the are taught to do.

I agree on this, the change up release feels unnatural and it takes a lot of practice to find a method that feels comfortable, this is where throwing it a lot of times in a row and targeting it helps. The wildest pitches that you see in a game, especially at the younger ages, are change ups. This can mentally scar a young pitcher and leave them with a negative attitude about the change up which becomes another hurdle to get over when it comes to learning the pitch.

If your daughter IR's the change up too much there is something you could try. She probably uses K position or slingshot when she warms up. When starts at the top simply have her turn the ball to face second base, then keep her hand on top of it all the way down into release. When she gets to the bottom she can keep her behind the ball and shove it or come around the outside.

 

[DrRiello]

Not sure if this has been said.
Palm the ball then brush the thumb on the thigh.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ken B]

Some ideas to play with in addition Doc’s and gertrude’s suggestions:
-Rotate the brush point on your forearm until you achieve spiral spin. Thumb-side is a good place to start.
-Splash the catcher with a cup of water (basically “horseshoe,” “circle” or “briefcase” changes)
-Think “Flip” and if the spin is spiral, go with it. Explain that a true flip would have backspin, but this resulting spiral is desirable—not only because it takes off speed, but is much easier to control than a backspin flip.
-Think sideways flip change with fingers peeling up the outside of the ball.
-Get the hand/ball in front of the elbow going into release.
-Think about hooking the thumb in the pocket at release (similar to Doc’s cue of brushing the thumb)
-Think about whipping the fingers around the outside and across the front of the ball at release (See Ueno’s change or similar to a drop curve for some)
-One helpful cue is to release with extension (back of hand turned up)
-Release with the pinky coming off the ball last
-Claw/stiffen the wrist and hand
-Push the ball with the thumb at release (knuckles forward)
-Get the hand turned to release orientation around 9 o’clock

I think one of the easiest ways to teach the change (or any spin,) is the start up close and focus on consistent spiral spin. Limit distance and motion to whatever results in good spin. Play with various cues to achieve spiral spin.

It may help to experiment with rotating through various spin axes to build hand/ball awareness. For example, rotate through backspin, side spin and drop spin. Learning to steer the axis helps create the awareness of how to make corrections if something breaks down.

I also like pinning the elbow to the side and pulling the hand up quickly to the chest after ripping the seams off the side of the ball. I think I borrowed this from @Rick Pauly

Increase effort, distance and motion as long as good reps are maintained. If she’s unable to string good spins together after trying a few cues, move back up to whatever distance and effort needed to get good reps.

 

[Rick Pauly]

Lots of good tips in this thread. A couple thoughts on the change up:
1. Just about everything you do to get speed off the ball is counter to good mechanics....a big key is to do it so quickly that it is not noticeable
2. To get speed off a ball requires misdirecting energy. That can come in many forms: a) early IR and early Pronation. the idea here is to get the ball to lead the elbow in a pushing action vs the elbow leading the ball in a whipping action; b) getting the fingers out from behind the ball at time of release...it's hard to put energy into the ball when the fingers are on the outside of the ball; c) misdirect the hand/arm such that it crosses the body and finishes somewhere between the belt and shoulder...this varies for every pitcher. IOW, don't direct energy straight at the catcher; d) accelerate the arm from about 8 o'clock until the hand has totally crossed over to the belt/shoulder....deceleration transfers energy...acceleration just maintains energy; e) the last thing on the ball is the fingers.....reduce the energy the fingers put into the ball by paralyzing them; f) pull the hand upward just prior to and into release....pull the energy up/out of the ball.
There are a zillion grips for a change up.....I'd start with the basic fastball/dropball grip.
There are several zillion cues for a change up. One I like a lot is "tea up and across and show the palm". The tea is in reference to how people in England drink tea....just replicate that action as the hand is nearing the release zone.

 

[Beeg]

DD learned 2 different types of change-up. One with her previous coach and one with her new coach. The one with her previous coach was easier for her to master. Basically, she pushes the ball, thumb down and knuckles up, toward the batter. She mastered that pretty easily. But it is easy to tell she is throwing a changeup as the push kind of slows down the pitching motion.

The 2nd one she learned, as others have mentioned, is similar to holding a teacup. This one is harder to master, but it is so much better, because it looks just like a fast ball. The difference is in the finish. The faster you "drink the tea", the slower the ball becomes. Yup, you have to whip your hand as fast as a fast ball, yet the tea-cup motion makes the ball spin differently. There is also a spin to it, so to the batter, it looks just like a regular pitch, and because the pitcher's arm actually goes fast, you can't tell it is a change-up until too late. DD is able to get a 12-15MPH difference between her fast ball and change-up after she mastered this. But it wasn't easy, though. Took her a few months to train her brain to not to slow down on a change-up. If she struggles in a game with her changeup, all I have to say is-go faster, and she'd remember not to slow down.

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

Obviously everything Rick said and I have nothing to add from a technical standpoint. But Maybe this will help a little...
My DD overdoes everything you tell her, so I had to simplify it for her, this is what worked -
You're familiar with Rick's brush contact point. For the change try moving the brush contact from the pinky side of the forearm to the thumb side. And that's all you think about down the back side of the circle - brush on the thumb side of the forearm.
That and the stiff finger claw grip got my girl throwing a respectable change.

 

[Ken B]

And that's all you think about down the back side of the circle - brush on the thumb side of the forearm.

Love this—one of my favorites and can’t believe I didn’t list it! I added it to my list above. Thanks!

 

[NJSwampdragons]

My dd is having trouble with learning the change up Pauley teaches, her biggest problem right now is she still is whipping the ball. She’s turning her hand to late, between 7 and 5 o’clock, instead is starting the turn much earlier. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to help her get her hand on the outside of the ball earlier?

How old is she? I just think it takes awhile to click. My 10-year-old is learning the same change-up Maddie Penta throws.