How to Throw a Circle Change Place your fingers in the same position as you do with your fastball (thumb and middle finger splitting the baseball in half) and then make a circle with your thumb and index finger. The grip is not the most important part of this pitch. Your wrist and forearm angle are. In fact, when introducing this pitch to my students I teach them to start throwing this pitch with a C instead of a circle until they become used to throwing the C at the catcher. The trickiest part teaching youth pitchers the circle change is that most have a difficult time with the position of the wrist and forearm angle (pronation) so I teach them an alternative off-speed pitch like a split finger fastball. If you are a coach you will have to be the judge whether or not the pitcher is truly mature enough to handle this pitch.
The Circle Change has a screwball type movement. The pitch breaks down and away. The pitch appears to look like a fastball and when it is thrown correctly can be very deceiving to the batter. Throwing the pitch correctly means that your wrist and forearm are pronated, your arm slot is the same as your fastball mechanics and your arm speed is the same as your fastball. The Atlanta Braves pitching staff in the early 90s had this pitch mastered and fooled many batters.There are many myths out there about how to throw different types of changeups. One thing to avoid is dragging your back foot to slow the ball down. Not only is it mechanically incorrect, the batter will know you are throwing the pitch. This changeup will take many repetitions to be able to throw this pitch effectively. Be patient with it because once you have great command of the pitch you will have much more success on the mound. I believe one reason why people dont find success with this pitch is they dont start with their thumb and middle finger splitting the baseball in half. Refer to the pitching tipsbelow.
Pitching Tip #1: Throw the pitch early in the count and try to get a ground ball out of it. Remember, it is best to throw fewer pitches in an inning than to go for strikeouts.
Pitching Tip#2: Youre going to want to keep this pitch low in the zone. If you keep the pitch high or it squirts on you, the ball will be crushed. Pitching Tip#3: Thumb and middle finger split the baseball in half. You will have a difficult time finding the strike zone if they dont.
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