Trying (And Failing) to Quantify Changeups

Photo by Scott Kane/Getty ImagesThis is a story about failure. Like most stories about failure, it starts with an attempt to succeed. When I wrote about Kodi Whitley last month, I stumbled over his changeup. It’s phenomenally weird, the kind of pitch that almost no one in baseball throws. It doesn’t move much like any other changeup -- it has more vertical break than anything in its same zipcode velo-wise. In fact, it almost resembles his fastball, only ten miles an hour slower.

I did the analytical equivalent of a shruggie -- I said I’d need more data or video to have a conclusive opinion on it. But like manna from heaven, an email appeared in my inbox from noted Cardinalsologist and…