Professional Practitioners
Johan Santana, Pedro Martínez, Cole Hamels, Huston Street, Zack Greinke, Edwar Ramírez are pitchers who rely heavily on their circle changeup. Former New York Mets closer John Franco was able to generate so much movement on his circle changeup that it mimicked a screwball. Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine was known for using the outside corner of the plate with his circle changeup. Minnesota Twins ace Frank Viola also used the circle change to great effect. Former Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Leibrandt threw a Circle changeup that was gripped using the index finger on the seam of the ball and the thumb on the side of the ball to "choke" the ball. According to his autobiography, Nolan Ryan also developed his own circle changeup to add another off-speed pitch without having to throw a slider (as sliders are believed to more frequently cause injuries).
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