Alex Meyer Focusing On Changeup

[Steve Lein]

Rhett Bollinger posted a new article discussing Alex Meyer yesterday:

 

http://m.twins.mlb.com/news/article/110273640/minnesota-twins-prospect-alex-meyer-developing-changeup-this-spring

 

It's brief, but discusses how he wants to continue to develop his changeup to have a 3rd weapon.

[Brock Beauchamp]

This stuck out:

 

Meyer said he's excited to work with new pitching coach Neil Allen, and believes it could help him that everyone is on a clean slate with the new coaching staff.

What does that mean? People generally don't say stuff like that unless there was some point of contention with the old staff.

[Steve Lein]

I thought the same thing about that line. But probably isn't much behind it.

 

New voices and new philosophies can be good, is likely all he means.

[Parker Hageman]

His splits last year showed that he needs something else in order to get out lefties. While RHB were held at bay with a 598 OPS, LHB posted a 785 OPS. 

 

From the confidence side, that's good. Last year he didn't show anyone the change in spring training:

 

The biggest change from his outing is that he's now switched to a new changeup, as he's throwing a three-finger changeup he learned from reliever Deolis Guerra instead of a circle-changeup.

Meyer was reluctant to throw his changeup during Spring Training, but the Twins want the 6-foot-9 right-hander to mix it in more to go along with his plus-fastball and plus-breaking ball.

 

 

It sounds like with the three-finger change that the velocity is much greater than the circle-change. 

 

Will Allen help improve his changeup? Who knows. Even dating back to 2013 the Twins organization was trying to get Meyer to work on his changeup:

 

“I’m definitely throwing my changeup more than I usually do,” Meyer said. “That’s what (the Twins) have been harping on to throw more and be able to get comfortable with that third pitch as a starter. I have been throwing it more. It’s getting better but it’s still not where I want it to be. There’s days where it’s really good and there’s days where it’s not good, so I’ve got to find that middle ground where I can have it in my back pocket at all times and be able to pull it out when I need to.”

 

[Steve Lein]

It sounds like with the three-finger change that the velocity is much greater than the circle-change. 

 

Don't think your "Velocity is much greater link" is right, brings you back to this thread. I'd be curious to read what you intended to link, though!

[Parker Hageman]

Don't think your "Velocity is much greater link" is right, brings you back to this thread. I'd be curious to read what you intended to link, though!

 

 

Derp. The velocity report was from a writeup at FakeTeams.com from April 2014 that said reports suggested his change was at 88-92 this past year. Meanwhile, Rotoscouting.com said their 2012 reports on Meyer had his changeup velocity at 83-85. 

[nytwinsfan]

Derp. The velocity report was from a writeup at FakeTeams.com from April 2014 that said reports suggested his change was at 88-92 this past year. Meanwhile, Rotoscouting.com said their 2012 reports on Meyer had his changeup velocity at 83-85. 

 

Excuse my ignorance, but don't you want your changeup to be slower, all things being equal (i.e. assuming it looks just as much like a fastball to the batter)? That's what I always understood, but I'm probably wrong. Maybe if it is too much slower, then it is easier for the batter to detect the difference early enough to correct for it? I'm honestly not sure.

[nicksaviking]

Ah the sage advice from the great Deolis Guerra. 

 

I assume his changed change up was organizationally approved? Or could that be a contributing factor to the possible friction alluded to by the "clean slate" comment in the article?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Excuse my ignorance, but don't you want your changeup to be slower, all things being equal (i.e. assuming it looks just as much like a fastball to the batter)? That's what I always understood, but I'm probably wrong. Maybe if it is too much slower, then it is easier for the batter to detect the difference early enough to correct for it? I'm honestly not sure.

I believe that is the case, yes. You want the pitch so slow that a batter sitting on a fastball has no hope of hitting it but not so slow that they can identify the ball speed coming out of your hand.

 

Johan's changeup was roughly 12mph slower than his fastball and was considered the best in baseball during his prime, largely because his changeup arm action looked identical to his fastball arm action, I believe.

[ashbury]

I believe that is the case, yes. You want the pitch so slow that a batter sitting on a fastball has no hope of hitting it but not so slow that they can identify the ball speed coming out of your hand.

This casts doubt on the authenticity of Bugs Bunny's previously mentioned success against the Gas House Gorillas.

 

In other news, a 25 year old starter is still working on a third weapon.   Don't they teach anything at U of Kentucky?   Might he have been wiser to accept Boston's 20th-round draft of him as a HS senior?   Sheesh.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Doesn't Guerra have the best graded change in the org?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

This stuck out:

 

 

What does that mean? People generally don't say stuff like that unless there was some point of contention with the old staff.

Yet Gardy was willing to take him "as is" as another bullpen arm (like the rest of us were).... So maybe he meant front office. Meyer has talked highly of May, Pelfrey, Guerra and Pino (that I know of) so seems like he's going to be a good teammate. I think he's getting impatient--the sooner he gets here the better.

[Shane Wahl]

This casts doubt on the authenticity of Bugs Bunny's previously mentioned success against the Gas House Gorillas.

 

In other news, a 25 year old starter is still working on a third weapon.   Don't they teach anything at U of Kentucky?   Might he have been wiser to accept Boston's 20th-round draft of him as a HS senior?   Sheesh.

 

Indeed. It's weird. One would think that it would be easier to develop other pitches when one has such a fastball already.

[SweetOne69]

This casts doubt on the authenticity of Bugs Bunny's previously mentioned success against the Gas House Gorillas.

 

In other news, a 25 year old starter is still working on a third weapon.   Don't they teach anything at U of Kentucky?   Might he have been wiser to accept Boston's 20th-round draft of him as a HS senior?   Sheesh.

 

This is fairly common.  Garza didn't learn any other pitches until he reached AAA or the majors.  Sometimes having an dominant fastball can be a detriment as they have a tendancy to rely on it in the minors where a secondary and tertiary pitch is unnecessary.

[Linus]

The main factor here is that it is pretty obvious he wasn't throwing his change up much.  Its really hard to get better at anything by not doing it.  Some of this could be on the minor league pitching coaches but some has to be on the player. 

 

I really hope he figures it out because I believe that Meyer reaching his potential is equally important, or maybe more important, than what happens with Buxton or Sano.  For this reason, unless he is an absolute flop in spring training, he's my fifth starter.  If he starts in AAA for a couple of months until they really need a 5th starter, I don't care but once summer rolls around he needs to be on the mound every 5th day.

[Jham]

This casts doubt on the authenticity of Bugs Bunny's previously mentioned success against the Gas House Gorillas.

 

 

Of course, the best change-ups are capable of striking out the side on a single pitch.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPfuorMa0sE

[ashbury]

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/024/183/500pxShopped.jpg

[jwestbrock]

Excuse my ignorance, but don't you want your changeup to be slower, all things being equal (i.e. assuming it looks just as much like a fastball to the batter)? That's what I always understood, but I'm probably wrong. Maybe if it is too much slower, then it is easier for the batter to detect the difference early enough to correct for it? I'm honestly not sure.

The number I've typically heard/seen/been told is roughly 10% slower, so 90mph fastball 81mph change; 100 mph fastball, 90 mph change.

[Linus]

The number I've typically heard/seen/been told is roughly 10% slower, so 90mph fastball 81mph change; 100 mph fastball, 90 mph change.

The exact mph difference is less important than the arm speed.  The motions first need to be identical, or nearly so, in order to be effective.  If that is achieved then, yes, the bigger the difference the better.