Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Entertainment
Dan Gartland

This Slow-Mo Angle of MLB Pitcher's Changeup Is Absolutely Mesmerizing

Trevor Richards Elvis Andrus

Blue Jays reliever Trevor Richards is having one of the best seasons of his career, and his nasty changeup is a big reason why. 

In 29 appearances this season, Richards has a career-best 3.14 ERA and has posted a 1.116 WHIP, second only to the 0.964 he record in 2021. And he’s doing thanks in large part to a changeup that’s been nearly unhittable, with batters posting a paltry .120 batting average against the pitch. What makes the change so tough to hit? Its dizzying spin rate. Richards’s changeup has an average spin rate of 2585, the second highest in the majors this season (behind only Brewers closer Devin Williams’s 2643). 

If the numbers don’t properly illustrate how tough it is to hit Richards’s change, maybe this video will. 

It’s amazing to see how Richards pronates his wrist to generate the spin and how the ball drops so rapidly before it reaches the plate. White Sox shortstop Elvis Andrus never stood a chance as he waved futilely at the pitch. 

It won’t be much consolation to Andrus, but he’s far from the only hitter to be left in fits by Richards’s changeup this season. So far, batters have whiffed on it nearly half of the times they’ve swung at it (47.3%). 

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
One Extraordinary (Olympic) Photo: David Goldman captures rare look at triathlon swimming
AP photographer David Goldman has photographed the triathlon at the last three Olympics
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Study finds heavy metals in many dark chocolate products in the US
Researchers found levels of lead and cadmium that far exceed allowable amounts under California guidelines
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
McDonald's menu adding another big burger change
The fast-food giant has been trying to fix one of its biggest problems, and it has a new solution.
The Street
The Street
USA are lagging in the Olympic gold medal table. Should American fans panic?
As day four of the Olympics began, Team USA were sixth in gold medals won. But their strengths are still to come and their overall total is solid
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Why Trump’s tactic to make Kamala Harris’s laughter ridiculous won’t work, according to Baudelaire
When US Vice-President Kamala Harris began to be touted as President Joe Biden’s likely successor, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump and his team wasted little time calling her “laffin’ Kamala Harris” on social media.
The Conversation
The Conversation
We now know what a brain looks like on psilocybin – but what does that tell us?
Many studies have suggested that psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, might be useful in treating a variety of mental health conditions. But we don’t really know what’s going on at the level of “functional brain networks” – the communication pathways that connect different regions of the brain.
The Conversation
The Conversation
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play