WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 It\u2019s trivia time. And, please, bear with us.<\/p>\n
Does anyone know how many times former Texas Rangers right-hander Dane Dunning threw his forkball \u2014 a pitch that he secretly tweaked with and added to his arsenal during spring training a year ago \u2014 last season? <\/p>\n
Exactly one. <\/p>\n
This is not to criticize Dunning, now an Atlanta Brave, for a lack of follow-through. This is to say that new or redesigned pitches can sometimes be nothing more than spring training fodder that becomes shelved when the games start to actually matter. <\/p>\n
Rangers<\/p>\n
Or, sometimes, it can be deployed on a regular basis and help unlock the best of a pitcher\u2019s potential. <\/p>\n
Meet Jack Leiter\u2019s changeup. <\/p>\n
Leiter, a right-handed rookie in his first full big league season, rode his changeup to a second-straight quality start in the Rangers\u2019 5-2 win against the Athletics Friday night at Suter Health Park. The 25-year-old pitched six innings of two-run ball, allowed five hits, two walks and struck out seven batters. <\/p>\n
His 26 changeups thrown were the second-most in any game this season. The Athletics swung at it 14 times, whiffed on it seven times and struck out on it four times. He had never generated that many swings and misses with his changeup in a single game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just an arm speed pitch when I\u2019m trusting it and throwing it like a fastball,\u201d said Leiter, who has a 3.77 ERA in his first 24 starts this season. \u201cI think it\u2019s a really effective pitch both early in the counts and to put guys away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old brought a revamped \u201ckick changeup\u201d into spring training and immediately added it into his arsenal. The pitch \u2014 which averaged 90 mph Friday and reached 92.8 mph \u2014 requires the user to arch the middle finger in a changeup grip and make it the same length or shorter as the ring finger. It\u2019s designed to let pitchers who struggle to pronate throw a decent changeup. <\/p>\n
And, yes, it\u2019s been decent. Batters hit .203 on his 303 changeups thrown this season prior to Friday night and whiffed on it 32.2% of the time. It\u2019s only gotten better as Leiter has become more comfortable with the pitch. Hitters slashed .167\/.211\/.222 against it in four July starts and swung and missed 43.3% of the time. In his first five August starts they slashed .056\/.227\/.056 against it. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big pitch for him,\u201d Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a big pitch for anybody. It sets up a lot of other pitches, gets him off his fastball, comes in like a fastball and has good action to it. I think it\u2019s hard to pick up and he\u2019s getting more and more command of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It serves as a representation of Leiter\u2019s continued development. His fastball, which can touch triple digits, is a legitimate weapon that is neutralized if batters can sit on it without the fear of effective off-speed pitches. <\/p>\n
The club\u2019s pitching staff encouraged Leiter to throw his curveball for power instead of precision before his previous start vs. the Cleveland Guardians at Globe Life Field. Leiter threw his curveball a mile and a half per hour faster than his average, landed it for six called strikes and was able to cruise for seven scoreless innings. <\/p>\n
He chalked it up to a level of trust in his curveball. His changeup, which he\u2019s thrown 15.1% of the time this season, is not necessarily any different in that aspect. <\/p>\n
It could continue to unlock the best of the former second overall draft pick\u2019s abilities. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s started leaning on it in big situations,\u201d catcher Jonah Heim said. \u201cWhen you can trust a pitch in big situations, you know it\u2019s a good pitch. It\u2019s a go-to pitch for him.\u201d<\/p>\n