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Flip Flop Fly Ball: Santanna’s Changeup

Santana's Changeup: A Study in Stealth Unlike pitches that challenge batters with overpowering speed (fastball) or change of direction (curve, slider), the changeup is all about deception. When thruwn with the expertise of Johan Santana, the changeup offers only a fleeting visual key for the batter to uae to identify the pitch and to react accordingly. Batters mainly have two opportunities to decipher a pitch: by getting a glimpse of the pitcher's grip (and sometimes his body position) and by reading the pattern that the seams on the ball create Santana's changeup delivery looks like that of his fastball or his slider. So the batter starts his swing quickly to catch up to a 90-mile-an-hour pitch, only to realize- often too late - that it is a changeup traveling mach more slowly and diving out of the strike zone. Whifi! Changeup Fastball or Slider? Santana's 2007 Changeup Success by Zone Santana's dominance Her's edge bating verg in sections of ske zone 44 2 4 214 S hitalatbats 2 20 00 pikches chased by hiters out ot sike zone pitches chased pitches out of sone The Chang in a spit second, the bator must read that the thumb and index inger are on the side of the bel and that the other fingers are spread. But the wrist and paim make the pitoh look ke a fastbal or a sidor His changeup often dives low oout of the stike zone in the last tew feet, making many batters chase a tough pitch to hit. By JOE WARD 2007 Changeups Aginst Righe Handers He uses his changeup sparingly against let handers. He uses ta lot against righe-handers-and kaeps it low and ay trom hem The Body Holde Ne Ches Sartana's trunk angie and am positon are neaty identical in the bwo pches at left. giving the batter no visual cue as to whether tis a fasttal a slider or a changeup. Percent of chargups thrown to that zone Number of Fastball er Sder changepe thrown The phch above is probably a sider, which comes of the thumb side of the index frger. Mets HOW BATTERS IDENTIFY PITCHES Dy Grip and Body Position By the Ball's Spin Fatel The batter sees mostly white witha lew scattered. bluny red dots. Changeup Looks similar to the tastbell, making hard to distinguish between them Curvetel The seams produoe red lines tumbing toward the bater Fastbell Curveball Milwaukee's Ben Sheets The pinkie side of his hand faces the hter wih ha finges on the side of the bat His head and tomo are tihed at a more Sder Souro Shan atchtont ute tor Sports Var Asecan Spons Mediane displaya the typical signa of a faal he pam faces the hiter with his The spining seams fom a red index and middle fingers behind the bail pronounced ange and the bal is reioased from a higher point. dot in the middle of he bal.

Flip Flop Fly Ball: Santanna’s Changeup

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A guide to when you can throw in the towel at your favorite baseball team, down the exact date.

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Lisa Marie

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Lisa Marie

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Sports
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