Trigger alert: this post is probably going to make some people who are stuck in their ways angry. But hear me out – and try what I say before setting your comments on blast.

One of the things I do when I get a new student – after looking at their core mechanics, of course – is ask to see their other pitches. Usually the first one they will go to is their changeup, which makes sense because it’s often the first “non-fastball” pitch they learn.

What’s amazing to me is how many times I will see them go to the so-called “circle change.” I mean, I know it was popular once upon a time, especially in the college game, but so was big hair and teams wearing shorts.

There are several issues with the circle change in my mind, but I think the biggest is that that particular grip is completely unnecessary to throwing a changeup successfully. In fact, it probably hurts more pitchers than it helps, especially the younger ones or those with smaller hands.

Don’t believe me? Try this, which is something I do with every new pitcher I see who is holding the ball that way.

Have the pitcher throw her normal change with a circle grip and measure the speed with a reliable radar device while also noting where the ball goes. In fact, have her throw a few so you’re not just relying on a sample size of one.

Then tell her to hold it like her fastball and throw it again a few times, changing nothing else about the mechanics of her changeup. What you’ll likely find is the speed is the same, or perhaps even a little closer to the ideal differential, and she has a little better control over it without ever having thrown it gripping it that way before.

That’s been my experience anyway. In the past few weeks I’ve probably had six girls come in throwing a circle change, and all six threw it at least as well if not better when they went to a fastball grip.

Those girls were all amazed, and all said they found it more comfortable and easier to control. With a couple of other tweaks they had a game-ready pitch they could have confidence in rather than one on which they would hold their breath and hope it worked half the time.

Even if a pitcher throws the circle change well, have her try using her fastball grip anyway and see what happens. There’s a good chance (again) that she will throw it every bit as well as with the circle grip for one simple reason:

The grip is not the pitch.

To throw an effective changeup without having to slow down your body and/or your arm, you have to defeat the things that make a fast pitch fast – things like maintaining the proper kinetic sequence to achieve acceleration and deceleration of the arm at the proper time, whipping the lower arm, pronating into release, etc. Using a circle grip may help you take a few mph off the ball by reducing the amount of energy transferred through the fingers, but it probably won’t be enough to truly upset the hitter’s timing.

But it could be just enough to turn your effective fastball into one that’s easier to hit.

So in reality all using a circle grip does is make it harder to throw an effective changeup. But that’s not the only disadvantage.

The whole point of a changeup is deception. You want to surprise the hitter with a pitch that doesn’t do what she’s expecting it to do.

In the case of a changeup, it should look like it’s going to come in at the pitcher’s top speed, but when it comes out of the hand it’s moving 10-15 mph slower with no apparent change in delivery. (I personally prefer 12-15 mph as the range, but I know others like 10 so in the interest of egalitarianism I’ve widened the range.)

Here’s the thing, though. If the pitcher is using a circle grip, you don’t have to be Mike White to see that she’s about to throw a changeup. As soon as she goes into her backswing it’s like there’s a giant neon sign proclaiming “Here comes the changeup!”

It’s right out there for the hitter to see as she starts her load. If the hitter can’t see it, it’s even more obvious to third base coach, who can call out an audible signal to the hitter so she’s ready to sit on the changeup. And blast it to Kingdom Come.

And with all the emphasis in today’s game on picking pitches (thanks largely to the influx of former men’s fastpitch players into the women’s game) why make it easy for opponents to know what you’re throwing? Especially when it’s unnecessary.

It’s perfectly possible to throw a great changeup that fools hitters (and even umpires) on a regular basis using a pitcher’s normal fastball grip. I know because my students, and those of my pitching coach friends who use normal grips for what the changeups they teach, get compliments all the time from umpires and college coaches for the effectiveness of their changeups.

I also know because of what happens when I tell girls throwing a circle change to change the grip and nothing else. But don’t take my word for it.

Try that little experiment yourself and see what happens. You’ll likely find as well that the circle grip is well past its sell-by date.

Dump it like a lumpy carton of milk and just use a normal grip. It will perform just as well, and will be a lot more reliable to boot.