The Art of the Change-up

A few seasons back, the Twins led the league in pitchers who threw change-ups. Radke, Santana, and Liriano were masters of throwing off-speed pitches, often with devastating results to the hitters. They didn't just throw change-ups, they threw them effectively.

Last year the Twins staff threw less than 10% change-ups, relying on their fastballs to get batters out. That's one of the primary reasons that the pitching staff as a whole was so ineffective. They didn't fool anybody.

So what should be different for the Twins THIS year?

New pitching coach, Neil Allen.

Over the last three seasons, Tampa Bay's young pitching staff threw almost 20% of their pitches as change-ups. They led the league in that category. The reason? Neil Allen was their Triple A pitching coach. He groomed all of those young pitchers in the subtle art of deception. And it paid off in dividends for the Tampa Bay staff. There was a reason that Tampa Bay, a team that spends so little money on anything, produced so many good young pitchers year after year.

Fast balls do not give average pitchers strikeouts. Change-ups get them strikeouts. The fastball sets up the batter. The change-up knocks 'em out. If Allen is going to make a difference in the Twins pitching staff THIS season, we should see the results in the form of more strikeouts brought about by properly thrown change-ups.

Baseball is so much more than throwing the ball and hoping the other guy misses it. It's setting up the batter and PLANNING on him missing it. That's the difference between poor teams and good teams. And good teams and great teams.

Hopefully Allen can instill that same attitude in both a veteran pitching staff and the young guys waiting in the wings. If one man can make a difference in whole ball club quickly, it's the pitching coach. I'm planning on Allen doing that for the Twins this season way more than Molitor or Hunter.

And he's got all of spring training to work out the details.

One last note: Phil Hughes throws an awful change-up. I don't want him to change anything. He is a great pitcher who relies on supreme control for his success. I don't want Allen touching him. Great pitchers don't need the change-up. Average pitchers become much better with it.

I hope Allen knows that as well. Otherwise we are going to see a frustrated Phil Hughes this year, And nobody wants that.