The Pitching Academy

Baseball Pitching Grip for the 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 pitcher’s 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 90’s had this pitch mastered and fooled many batters.

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: You’re 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 don’t.

How to throw a split finger fastball