Change-up and pitch sequencing

Setup

1. Pitch from your competition's distance (43 ft / 13.1 m for most senior play). Check your competition's rules on leaping and crow hop before you start.
2. Catcher in full gear: helmet with mask, throat guard, chest protector and shin guards.
3. Set an L-screen just in front of and to the glove side of the pitcher's landing spot, so the pitcher can finish the windmill and step behind it. A fielder's face mask is recommended too.
4. The batter wears a helmet with a face guard. A coach stands behind the catcher's side with the pitch chart.
5. Agree a pitch budget for the day (around 50 to 70 pitches across both parts for a senior pitcher in season) and a rest day after it.

How it runs

1. Part 1, change-up feel (15 pitches, batter tracking with the bat on the shoulder): alternate fastball and change-up. The batter calls 'fast' or 'change' as soon as they can tell. The goal is a change-up the batter cannot call before it is halfway.
2. Use the grip and release that suits the pitcher (stiff wrist, flip, knuckle or circle change); the arm speed and body look must stay the same as the fastball.
3. Part 2, sequencing (live at-bats, 4 to 6 batters): before each at-bat, the catcher and pitcher name a plan, for example rise up, drop away, then change-up low.
4. The catcher calls every pitch with signs. If the batter shows something (late on the fastball, diving over the plate), the catcher adjusts the plan and says why between at-bats.
5. Batters swing live, with the pitcher behind the L-screen. The coach charts each pitch: type, location, count and result.
6. After every at-bat, a 20-second debrief: what was the plan, did the change-up come at the right time, what would you throw next time.

Coaching points

• The change-up sells on arm speed. If the arm slows down, the batter sees it and waits.
• Aim for about 15 to 20 per cent slower than the fastball and down in the zone. A high change-up is a long ball.
• Set it up first: change-ups work best after the batter has seen hard pitches, often in fastball counts like 1-0 or 2-1.
• Change eye levels and speeds in a sequence: up then down, hard then soft, in then away.
• Catcher: watch the batter's feet and hands between pitches; a batter stepping in the bucket or opening early is a clue.
• Do not throw the same pitch in the same spot three times in a row unless it is getting outs.

Common mistakes

• Slowing the whole body for the change-up, so it is easy to read from the circle.
• Throwing it in a two-strike count with nothing set up before it.
• Leaving it belt high; a change-up up in the zone is the easiest pitch to drive.
• Ignoring the plan after one good result and throwing the favourite pitch every time.
• Pitching on after the budget is reached because the at-bats are fun.