April 21st, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by 0799291000348 Early in his professional career, Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw included a change-up in his arsenal of pitches; not to a great extent and it was clearly his fourth-best pitch behind his mid-90’s fastball, his wipeout curveball and, more recently, his unhittable filthy slider. Being the perfectionist that he is, Kershaw admitted that he never felt that he had command of his change-up that he did with his other pitches, thereby – for the most part – eliminating it from his pitching repertoire after the 2012 season.
Relying on his best pitches, location, and deception, Kershaw is recognized as one of the most dominant pitchers ever to play Major League Baseball. But with more than 2,200 competitive innings under his belt and with 34,000 pitches on his now 31-year-old left arm (per Baseball Reference), the future Hall of Famer is not the pitcher he once was. Still great, but those once mid-90’s fastballs now cross the plate at 91 or 92, and he now occasionally hangs those curveballs and sliders, which sometimes land on the other side of the fence.
According to Fangraphs, Kershaw’s average fastball velocity has declined from 94.3 mph in 2015 to 91.4 in 2018. In his first (major league) start of the 2019 season on April 15, his fastball averaged 90.1 mph.
Kershaw continued to work on his change-up during spring training bullpen sessions and, on occasion, has used it in games against hitters known to struggle against the pitch. Nonetheless, he still refuses to use the pitch with regularity, as it simply does not meet his lofty standards.
“In past years, I’ve been stubborn. I’ve had success, and I’ve wanted to do the same things over and over again,” explained the Dallas, Texas native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006. “As you progress in your career, there’s times when you have to make some adjustments. Maybe I haven’t been as fast with that as I’ve needed to at times.”
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
The good news, great actually, is that he believes that he can master the change-up if he prioritizes it.
“The only way I will prioritize it is if the other stuff doesn’t work. I’m not there yet.”
It’s time, Clayton. Don’t put it off any longer. A change-up, even if it doesn’t yet meet your Koufax-like criterion, will mess with hitters minds and will throw a monkey wrench into opposing managers’ and hitting coaches’ game plans. And, in time, your commitment to excellence will develop the pitch into one of the game’s best.
Imagine how quickly word would spread among major leaguer hitters that Clayton Kershaw, one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game, is now throwing a legit change-up.
Pull the trigger, Clayton.
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As a youngster, like almost all others, I fooled around with pitching and I must say that I could never throw a change-up with much success. I’d say aside from a knuckle ball it’s hard for some of us to master.
OBF, I agree. I pitched from Little League until maybe the age of 18. I easily mastered the curve and a cut fastball to accompany my straight fastball, but spent very little time learning a change-up, as it felt foreign in my hand. I knew I needed another pitch and eventually found the cut fastball to be of service. The discovery that a ball could move in that direction at that speed made it a hoot to deliver to my battery-mate as well. Pitching was fun!
I’m gonna side with Kershaw on this one, albeit, I think Jesse makes a very good assumption/evaluation here. Kershaw, I think, should stick to focusing on what he already has the ability to master, as that in itself is tough enough to repeat.
As both Jesse and Kershaw have stated, in the event that he can’t perform up to par, or better in his case. Then he should focus more attention on obtaining the feel for another pitch selection.
Always enjoy the write-up Jesse, Good work.
Excellent point; I would be a fool not to defer to Kershaw. 🙂 I just see how many major league hitters struggle to barrel-up change-ups, especially those pitches that move away and down from their strike zone. Imagine the difficulty hitters will have against such a pitch when they must also contend with a back foot slider, fastballs located to each quadrant of the strike zone, and a 12-6 curve ball. OH MY!
I used to love what’s his names Eephus…The scary dude, from Venezuela was it?
Argentina maybe…Padilla.
Good memory; Padilla. Do you remember Bill “Spaceman” Lee? He threw a ridiculous eephus pitch.
I do not…I have some years where I was kinda off the grid. I also inhaled a bit in my youth/youths.
These days, I pretty much focus on Dodgers players…as I uh, uh, uh…sent my memory bank off in a time machine and it returns at it’s own will.
Just remember that it’s not true about us old guys having bad memories. We just have so many memories it’s often difficult to find the right one.
NICE!
I’ve forgotten what happened last season already…other then Boston defeated the boys in the WS, that is. Good thing there are plenty of folks willing to refresh my memory.