How can i take speed off my change up?

hi. im wondering how i can take speed off my change up. i believe the fastball/change up combination is excellent for very pitcher because it often confuses the batter (great change up pitchers like greg maddux,tom glavine,pedro martinez,johan sanatana,etc). also it won’t dealt much injuries to a pitcher
i read this article from steven ellis(former cub closer)http://www.thecompletepitcher.com/how_to_throw_changeup.htm
and he says to take speed off a change up you can/should:
-pronate your hand(also getting screwball movement)
-stride shorter by a few inches
-lower your leg kick when you pitch as in your follow through(left leg for lefties,right for righties)

No no no no no! All the junk about leg lift and stride is terrible advice. That will monkey with your mechanics too much and make the feel of the pitch much harder to find. All that does is change your arm speed, and gives the batter a bigger tell and your change much less effectiveness.

EVERY THING IS THE SAME as your fastball, except grip. If you use a circle change than you should throw the pitch leading with the circle you make between your index and thumb. Meaning face that circle at the catcher when you release. This will naturally pronate your hand like they tell you to. A circle change should drop a little like a sinker or screwball.

A palm ball just adds friction to the release thus slowing the pitch down with the same amount of arm speed and force applied. Not much movement.

I personally have never liked the results of a circle change or palm ball. When in college my coach taught me a rather unusual grip. I place the ball in my palm just below where my fingers connect to my plam. Then I grip the ball with only my pinky and thumb. And I do not use my other three fingers at all. They just hang of the ball all the time.

The key to throwing this type of change is to keep your wrist bent back as far as you can comfortablely throughout the entire pitch. Throw is hard like a fastball. Trust me you’ll have to just to get it to the plate. It has a huge speed change. And better yet it has a lot of different type of movement all depending on how it comes off my pinky and thumb. Sometimes it knuckles, others it acts as a split finger fastball with much less speed and drops, and sometimes it will tail in or out on a batter. I try not to control that part of the movement, my only goal is to throw it hard and try to locate it right down the middle of the plate. Be careful not to leave it high, but a good follow through should prevent that. I’m not worried about it being right down the plate because of the consistently good movement it has on it, but high means I didn’t follow through and give it extra movement so it will hang.

I try not to teach this pitch to ever pitcher I coach now, but I like to show them just to give them options. If you falll in love with a circle change then by all means go for it. Just do it right, fastball throw, change up grip.

The best way to work on your change is while doing your bullpen, throw a fastball then a change then a fastball, etc. Rotate between them, and pay attention to the feel of throwing your fastball and make sure you throw with the same intensity with your change. This will make your pitch much more deseptive for the batter to pick up and making your fastball seem faster and your change seem slower to the eye.

Hope this helps.

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