Kyle Hendricks purposefully cuts his changeup sometimes. A changeup needs to be thrown with as much intensity as possible. I mean, he throws a cutter and a curve about 10% of the time combined, but both pitches are fairly substandard by whiffs and grounders, and with two strikes, they all but disappear. Category Baseball Content, Podcasts | Tags: Baseball Training, Chicago Cubs, Cressey Sports Performance, Elite Baseball Development, elite baseball development podcast, Kyle Hendricks, Pitching Coach, Pitching Mechanics, 2023 Cressey Training Systems, LLC Privacy Policy | Terms of use The basement of speed change is about 8%. Hendricks is predominantly a sinker (42.4 percent of his pitches in 2019) and changeup (27.8 percent) pitcher, mixing in the four-seamer and curve as well. and play-by-play data provided by Sports Info Solutions. Make sure youre throwing a repertoire that fits your body, your arm slot, your pitching style and age level. Why 10%, give or take? The way I teach the modern changeup in this article, it will produce movement to the armside, with sinking action as well. The changeup is the most historically misunderstood baseball pitch. Kyle Hendricks of the Chicago Cubs was a bright spot for the Wrigleyites this summer. Vulcan change? Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. Depending on the pitcher and his unique way of executing the pitch, the output will vary slightly. The odd thing about Hendricks is that his changeup actually spins more than his fastball, roughly 300 rpm more on average in 2020. If Michael Pineda never puts it together, no one will ever be able to say that it was due to a lack of effort from internet analysts trying to diagnose his problems. Now, Pitch F/X and Trackman grading of pitches has shown us that a changeup with more movement is harder for hitters to hit, even if the speed change is less. His change caused more hitters to swing and miss (24.4 whiff percentage to 29.8) this season compared to last. Otherwise you will be prompted again when opening a new browser window or new a tab. With his 70-72 mph changeup, he creates an even larger speed differential.. Last updated: July 27, 2020 Chicago Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks throwing a sinker (sinking fastball) and changeup. High school and college pitchers should try to master just three pitches. This counteracts the idea that killing more spin automatically means more downward movement (multiple factors go into the movement of every pitch). Kyle Hendricks knows he's struggled the last two seasons. Upon release, the fingers are lifted off the ball, the ball rolls up the fingers. Cubs lefty Justin made his third start of spring training against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday. I wanted to go back out there and fix what I was doing wrong, he said. Having the thumb underneath also allows pitchers to throw the ball as hard as they can without constantly spiking it. youtube.com/watch?time_con 0:09 1.3K views There is no one way to skin this cat! Still, it is something to think about going forward for Pineda. This allows them to work together, as a unit, to turn inward on the ball, to make it sink and run. Hes done all this despite lacking the overpowering velocity that most teams aces boast. After a conventional changeup and a splitter didnt pan out a coach was teaching him how to throw a cut change. It sounds like a cutter to me but thats not a pitch that is associated with sinking. If so, then stick with me! "My changeup was similar, but I wasn't establishing my fastball down in the zone." Six miles per hour? His reliance on movement and location could, at least in theory, help him age better than someone whos sole focus on the mound is blowing heaters past opponents. Condition 1: Pressure must be at the junction of the palm and fingers, not on the fingertips. The thumb is the pressure point, and its location on the bottom of the ball is crucial. Pitches that got more arm-side run went into the Fade basket, and the everything that got more glove-side movement than -3 went into the Cut basket. You can check these in your browser security settings. The actor suffered a brain aneurysm Feb. 18 at his Los Angeles home and died in his sleep Friday at a hospital in Burbank, California, his manager said. very good and useful article I thank you. All of which is a lengthy preamble to guide you to the point of this whole piece, which was Hendricks' changeup usage and results from Wednesday. A four-seamer that cuts slightly and works best against right . I wrote an article on Elitebaseballperformance.com on the same topic, so check that out as well. In short, Hendricks changed the grip of his curveball back during his Cy Young-caliber 2016 season, from a four-seam grip to a two-seam grip, in an effort to build up some increased confidence in a pitch he wasn't using as often as he probably should've been. "Going JUCO" - Is Playing NJCAA Baseball a Risky Move? 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. Like fastballs, changeups can be thrown with either a four-seam or a two-seam grip. Dropping the hand and elbow and short arming across the body. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. No, Im not blowing smokeIve taught lots of pitchers over the years, and its not hard to produce a heavy sinking changeup. Among 112 pitchers who have thrown at least 50 sinkers or two-seam fastballs entering Mondays slate of games, Hendricks is tied for the fifth lowest average spin rate (1878 rpm). When and if the 2020 season gets underway, the Cubs will be asking a lot of Hendricks who is irrefutably the go-to guy in the rotation. The average velocity differential was 11.1 mph. A fastball count is a count when its a little more high-risk to throw an offspeed pitch (which are harder to control). The #1 baseball brand in the world, Rawlings, has partnered with Cressey Sports Performance to make getting the best training gear for you more affordable. Chosen by RHP David Robertson, LHP Justin Steele, LHP Wade Miley, RHP Adrian Sampson and LHP Brandon Hughes. But for the second time in three seasons, Hendricks helped the Cubs start off on the right foot with a good performance against the Brewers at Wrigley Field in the season opener.. Not to mention both starts followed a strange set of circumstances: the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020 and an . . Pitchers who use four-seam grips need a large velocity gap between their fastball and changeup, looking at the table shown above. This is why we need a defined hand action that converts speed into spin. A slider has defined spin, a mixture of bullet-spin, forward and side spin that creates a visible red dot. Where he separates himself is with the Cut Change, which has a combination of movement and velocity that makes it hard to classify. Forcing the fingers down the sides of the baseball are one of a few culprits that cause undue hand tension. Kyle Hendricks entered his Sunday Night Baseball start on June 19 against the Pirates never having registered a double-digit strikeout game in his 57 starts. Twitter: https://twitter.com/cubs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cubs/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cubs/ Snapchat: http://Snapchat.com/add/Cubs TikTok: http://bit.ly/3jRYPkM This is because, when on the bottom, it can hold the ball firmly in place against the bottom bridge of the fingers. From there, they can decide to alter the movement profile of the pitch by tweaking its release. If it can be a more effective weapon, maybe Sunday night's 14 percent usage is a sign of things to come this year. Hendricks, in a way, sacrifices that extra killed spin on his changeup for a nearly identical arm slot and release point to his sinker, creating a superb amount of deception. As for the changeup, Steele wanted a bigger drop in velocity from his fastball. But, we need to do this at a 100% intensity, which is difficult. My pitchers dont spike changeups very much. The change up is supposed to be. But Scherzer dominated, limiting opponents to a .126 average in at-bats ending against the pitch - 12 points lower than deGrom's average. Okay, so once you learn this shiny new pitch, itll be important to understand when and why you should throw a changeup. This usually happens for a few reason: Watch the video below for some more great troubleshooting tips related to bouncing it. What type should a young pitcher aim to develop? At the same time, it is such a small number that it might just be a result of their Pitch F/X algorithm falsely classifying 111 of his pitches as two-seamers. Sign up below to receive my beloved weekly emails updates on new videos, articles and content. Despite slight differences in grip, most other pitches are thrown in the same way across pitchers. Several years before Kendrick started throwing his cut change I had came across the pitch in the Minor League Scouting Notebook. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. A special thanks to this shows sponsor, Rawlings. By looking at a combination of Google Images and the disparity in horizontal movement between their four seam fastballs and changeups, I tried to guess what grip each pitcher was using: *Cubs ace Kyle Hendricks has two changeups. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted
So, you see more MLB pitchers throwing changeups that are harder (8-12% slower than their fastball) but with lots of downward movement. First, definitely check out this video below, as it delves deep into the philosophy of throwing a changeup behind in the count. I send out great new information each week on all things baseball. Were excited to welcome Chicago Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks to this weeks podcast. A curveball has defined spin, topspin moving in a 12-6 or 1-7 orientation with as true a spin axis as possible. Changeups that start and leave from the fingertips do not gather as much spin, and often fly too straight or flat.. It wont matter what kind of firepower the likes of Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Kyle Schwarber, Willson Contreras and Anthony Rizzo bring to the table if this group cant keep opponents off the board. Oct. 22, 2016; In 2008, my freshman year at Dartmouth, I lived on the third floor of Fahey . No one should expect to make money from the picks and predictions discussed on this website. And he replaces it with his ring finger you let the changeup grip do the work.. Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks waves as he leaves the field following a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Monday, Sept . Cubs Spring Training Notebook: A leadoff option emerges. When they do, the brain apparently defaults to the average changeup.