Best Changeups in MLB History

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Every pitcher in history to ever walk up onto the mound is capable of throwing a fastball. It’s almost too classic. It’s a given. A guarantee. A no-brainer.

No matter the experience, origin or throwing practice of any given pitcher, they know how to throw a fastball.

But how many of them have truly mastered the fastball’s kid brother: the changeup?

The off-speed pitch is one of the most difficult to hit in the game, because it looks just like a fastball, and makes you look foolish for thinking it was.

When breaking down the best changeup pitchers in recent memory, we have a solid group of future Hall of Famers who have all destroyed batters throughout the years.

Tom Glavine. The last pitcher to win 20 games in three consecutive years. World Series MVP. A standout in one of the greatest rotations in MLB history. How did he do it all? Changeup.

What helped Glavine be so dominant for so long was the level of command and comfort he had with his pitching arsenal. Even as his career began to wind down and the velocity was no longer there, Glavine would alternate between changeups and fastballs on the corners of the strike zone. You try guessing which one to swing on.

How about another incredible starting pitcher from the 1990s?

Simply put, Pedro Martinez was the greatest on the planet at the end of the millennium. Three Cy Young awards, 8x all-star and 1999 Triple Crown winner.

Sure the awards speak for themselves, but how did he do it? Earlier in Pedro’s career his fastball (there’s that pitch again) velocity was way up in the 90s and the way he threw the ball gave batters very little time to see what was coming. They would expect the speedy fastball and be burned with the changeup.

There was nothing the batters could do but get embarrassed by Pedro, just like in 1999 when he struck out 17 Yankees in a single game. As a member of the Red Sox too as well…

Sports Illustrated writer Joe Posnanski summed it up quite well in saying, "There has never been a pitcher in baseball history — not Walter Johnson, not Lefty Grove, not Sandy Koufax, not Tom Seaver, not Roger Clemens — who was more overwhelming than the young Pedro."

Moving from the starting rotation into the bullpen, there are very (very) few closers better than Trevor Hoffman.

How does one rack up 601 (!!) saves over an 18 year career – an average of 33 per season, by the way – AND strike out 1,133 batters? With a wicked changeup, obviously.

Besides for being terrifying on the mound and using that intense kick wind up to get started, Hoffman’s secret was to palm the ball as opposed to using his fingers as nearly all other pitchers would do. 

This trick would create a difference in speed that the batters would not notice until it was way too late. If you want to average more than one strike out per inning over your career, you need a way to keep the batters guessing every time. Hoffman embodied that and mastered the mound in late-game situations.

The final pitcher is also the youngest of the group, and one of the most intense pitchers currently in the game.

The Freak, Tim Lincecum, is not someone you want to face at any point during the game.

At only 27, Lincecum has been one of the greatest hurlers in the MLB over the past few years, winning the Cy Young and World Series twice (wow) and leading the National League in strikeouts three times.

How does he do it? Like I said before, he’s intense.

Lincecum has such a solid and “110%” windup that pitchers are nearly always fooled when a pitch comes at them 10 mph slower than normal. Watch his highlights and you can always spot the batter gear up to not get burned by the fastball, only to be duped into swinging overtop of the changeup.

If there’s one thing all of these pitchers have shown it is how sometimes you don’t need to blow everything past a batter. Sure everyone loves a great fastball, but sometimes less is more. Less speed means more glory. Sounds like a winning combination to me. 

How do you throw a changeup? Would love to hear how you throw a changeup. Reach us on Twitter at @baseball_zone or by clicking contact us above and submitting a message.

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