How to Throw a Changeup Like Johan Santana

Johan Santana is one of the most dominant pitchers of his era in baseball. He baffles and vexes hitters with his wide array of pitches. Santana is infamous for one specific pitch, and that is his devastating changeup. Hitters almost literally have no chance against this pitch, but with a few tips, an average person does have a chance to throw as Santana does.

Instructions

    • 1

      Carry a baseball with you wherever you go to get used to the feel. Santana has incredible feel and control on his changeup because he and the baseball were in constant company when he was a young pitcher. Santana would carry a baseball around for hours at a time when he was a young pitcher in the minors to get comfortable with the feel of it in his hands.

    • 2

      Adjust your arm angle as you throw the changeup. Major league pitcher David Cone once said that Santana's changeup is three pitches in one because he can adjust the arm angle on the pitch, and this adjustment makes the pitch location different each time. By moving the arm angle, Santana can make the pitch dive down or move inside or outside as it nears the plate.

    • 3

      Make your changeup look the same as a fastball. Hitters have such a hard time recognizing Santana's changeup because it looks just like his fastball, but it has more movement and is not as fast. If the hitter cannot tell the difference, then he will hesitate. In baseball, if you hesitate, you are lost.

    • 4

      Use a grip that is almost the same as a four-seam fastball. With a four-seam fastball, your index finger is on the inside seam, the middle and ring fingers are across the top seams and the pinkie finger is on the left side seam. When Santana grips the baseball for his changeup, only his thumb is not on a baseball seam. The other four fingers are all on a seam, just like the four-seam fastball. This is one reason why he has such good control on his changeup and why his changeup looks just like his fastball when it leaves his hand.