HOUSTON — Behold the changeup, the humblest of pitches. It traffics in neither velocity nor break, the most attention-getting of pitching elements. The charm of the changeup is in the subtlety of its deception.
Songs, poems and movie scripts are written about the mighty fastball and parabolic curveball. The changeup inspires creative wordsmithing about as much as air leaking out of a balloon. It exists more on what it is not than what it is. It is the most Machiavellian of pitches.
It takes a true baseball aficionado to truly appreciate the changeup. For those who watched young Ian Anderson of the Atlanta Braves pitch in Game 2 of the National League Division Series Wednesday–just like the entirety of his eight-start career–they saw a masterpiece.