There are a few grips that almost everyone has in their arsenal, like the fast ball and the curve ball for example. But throwing those same two pitches all the time, even if they’re great, will allow the batter to load up and knock it out of the park – we’ve got to make the batter stay back, wait, and see what pitch is thrown, instead of just being able to anticipate it. That’s why teaching your players pitches with dynamic, unpredictable movement will make them better pitchers than they could ever be with just two classic pitches up their sleeve.
There are a couple less frequently used grips that you start to see more and more as you get into higher levels of competition. They’re great to practice, and they can be tough to master, but I always have my players give them a shot – one of them might be their money pitch and they don’t even know it yet!
Circle Changeup Grip
So here’s the grip for the circle changeup. Were going to put the ball a little deeper in the palm than what were used to, creating a circle around the ball with our hand. When you throws this change-up, the mechanics are basically the same as a normal fast ball – your just going to take tad longer stride and drag the back foot a little bit. That’s going to enable our pitcher to slow the arm down and make the pitch die at the plate.
Two Finger Choke Changeup Grip
This is a very similar pitch, with the exact same throwing mechanics as the circle changeup, and an almost identical grip. Here though, were going to release our grip with the pinky and ring fingers, keeping the ball deep in our palmm with just the middle and index fingers, as well as the thumb.
You don’t need to have all three of these pitches in your arsenal, but having just one can do a great deal for your pitching game and in making sure the batter doesn’t know what’s about to hit him.
If you’re looking for more help with your pitching game, make sure to check out our entire archive of baseball pitching drills, and make sure to leave any questions or comments below!