Overview
The changeup is thrown with fastball arm action but arrives 15-20 km/h slower, causing batters to swing on fastball timing and lunge forward for swings and misses or weak contact. The basic grip involves cradling the ball deep in the hand with a locked wrist and a pulling release, with variations including the circle change, palmball, and Vulcan change. In NPB, Toshiya Sugiuchi used his changeup as one of his primary weapons en route to 142 career wins. Yu Darvish also wielded the changeup as part of his vast repertoire before moving to MLB, using the speed differential against his fastball. When a hard-throwing pitcher adds a changeup, the pitch mix becomes much harder to handle-batters must prepare for velocity while also adjusting to the slower offering. Some pitchers throw high-velocity changeups in the upper 130 km/h range, taking the pitch beyond its traditional image as simply a slow ball.