In 2016, Felipe Rivero had the highest whiff rate on his changeup, 58.3 percent, as noted by Mike Petriello of MLB.com. He followed that up in 2017 by getting a whiff on 53.60 percent of his changeups, most among pitchers who threw at least 100. It’s that pitch that got Ray Searage to tell the Washington Post it was the best changeup he has ever seen:
“Never,” Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage said when asked whether he’d ever seen a better change-up. “Yeah, never. The arm action looks like a fastball, and then it comes in about 10 miles per hour slower than the fastball, with movement.