FG on Fox: New Change-Ups in Atlanta
“It’s the second-best pitch in baseball after the fastball” said Braves catcher Gerald Laird, when talking about the change-up. The arm action is the same as a fastball, the seams come out looking the same, there’s not many release point clues that it’s coming, and then “the ball is just not there.”?
For the first extended period of time, Ervin Santana and Gavin Floyd both feel comfortable with their change-ups. Both starters — acquired by the Braves over the winter — had unconventional offseasons in which they made mechanical adjustments on their own, and both have similar mechanics that may have made it harder for them to develop the pitch before now. But both are trying something new this year.
First, let’s take a look at their new change-ups. Jeff Sullivan wrote about Santana’s in-game strategy with the pitch, so we’ll build from there.
With a phone full of pictures of pitchers' fingers, strange beers, and his two toddler sons, Eno Sarris can be found at the ballpark or a brewery most days. Read him here, writing about the A's or Giants at The Athletic, or about beer at October. Follow him on Twitter @enosarris if you can handle the sandwiches and inanity.
If smart quotes were really so smart, you’d think they could render themselves properly in HTML…
Well, I’ll be. Them smart quotes done fixed themselves and now don’t have a bunch of question marks in there…
As I write this, that link to Fox is broken.
Here’s the correct URL:
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/confidence-in-changeup-is-key-for-success-of-braves-pitchers-santana-floyd-051914
so, this article seems like as good a place as any to ask a question that’s been nagging at me for a while. hopefully it is.
what makes a good change-up good and a bad change-up bad?
is it something that you can determine independent of a pitcher’s fastball? (i.e. you don’t need to see the resemblance to the release of the fastball or the difference in speed/movement to grade it)
is it some combination of repeatability and movement?
is there some other factor that i’m omitting from the evaluation?
essentially, if someone says that a pitcher has a 70 (or a 30) change-up, what, if anything, does that tell me about why it’s a plus (or minus) pitch?