Short Topics and Reactions

(Written in May 2025) Great bullpens are valuable, but they aren’t nearly everything. The job of a pitching coach is to help translate practice results into game results. Cool pitch shapes don’t matter if they can’t get outs. I think of the Nationals "I don't care how hard you throw ball four" sign back a few year ago. The name of the game is getting outs not to throw hard or get a lot of movement. They typically correlate but the pitch shape without generating outs is effec

(Written in March 2025) Clay Holmes in his transition to starter has become one of the many MLB pitchers to begin throwing what's known as a kick change. Why does it work? A kick change is not a new pitch; it's simply become more recognizable, allowing us to better quantify what it is, why it works, and how to teach it to athletes in a practical way. This pitch is particularly effective for supinators who struggle to pronate on a traditional changeup. It tends to move mor