As I was watching the Pittsburgh Pirates finally win a series again last night, I was struck by Joe Musgrove’s use of a changeup.
He threw 18 of them last night, 18.5 percent of his pitches. That percentage is actually higher than his season rate of 12.3 percent, which places him second among Pirates staters, only to Nick Kingham and Trevor Williams, each pulling the string an even 15 percent of the time.
He threw them for soft, manageable contact:
He pulled it at the right time to fool Tucker Barnhart:
Like many RHPs, Musgrove prefers to throw the changeup against left-handed hitters rather than same side sluggers.