Vulcan changeup
The Vulcan changeup (German: Vulcan - Changeup ) is a throwing technique of a pitcher in baseball . The ball is thrown with the throwing motion of a straight fastball , but is clamped between the middle and ring fingers in order to deliberately slow down the pitch (change-up). This is intended to tempt the opposing batsman to strike too early, and the unusual finger placement also results in a staggering movement that is difficult to calculate.
In Major League Baseball , the Vulcan changeup was popularized by longtime Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Éric Gagné and his MLB colleague Joe Nelson . Nelson is also the godfather of the litter. He said: "I wanted to name the litter either Nanu-Nano or the Vulcan , and Spock seemed cooler to me than Mork." The spread of the middle and ring fingers alludes to the "Vulcan greeting" from the TV series Star Trek .
Web links
- Gagne not throwing the changeup enough , Milwaukee Journal & Sentinel
- They Said It ( memento of October 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). ESPN.com - Article on Joe Nelson's naming of the Vulcan changeup