For a pitcher like Mason Miller, the game is usually a contest of raw, overwhelming force. The San Diego Padres closer has built a reputation on a fastball that regularly screams past 101 mph and a slider that creates a 60% whiff rate, leaving hitters with few options other than to watch the ball disappear. But recently, the 27-year-old flamethrower has begun experimenting with a different kind of weapon: the changeup.
It is a rare sight. Over the last two seasons, the changeup has accounted for just 2.3% of Miller’s total pitches. In the early stages of this season, he had thrown only one. That lone offering was delivered to three-time batting champion Luis Arraez on a 1-1 count in the ninth inning of a Wednesday night game. The result was a ball, wide outside, and an execution that Miller himself would later describe as “terrible.”
The decision to deploy a seldom-used pitch against a hitter of Arraez’s caliber was partially a product of the situation. The Padres held a comfortable 7-1 lead after a four-run eighth inning, providing Miller with the low-leverage environment necessary to test his arsenal. For Miller, the goal wasn’t a strikeout, but rather a specific type of contact.
“A changeup is a good pitch, but I’m not going to feel comfortable with it if I’m not throwing it,” Miller said during the Padres’ visit to Fenway Park on Friday. “I’m picking my spots. There are certain guys it matches up well against. [Arraez] is a guy who isn’t going to swing and miss, so I’m not going to be hunting a strikeout. If I can get softer contact on it… any time you have a guy who isn’t fast and he puts it on the ground, that’s an opportunity for an out.”
The Mechanics of a New Grip
While the intent was sound, the execution of that first changeup fell short. The pitch clocked in at 93.8 mph with a 19.1-inch arm-side horizontal break, sailing up and away from the zone. Miller attributed the miss to a drop in his arm slot and a “pushing” motion, evidenced by a lower-than-usual extension of 6.3 feet.
To fix the movement, Miller has been tinkering with the physics of the ball. He has shifted his seam orientation, moving his middle and ring fingers closer together to better control the ball’s descent without relying on heavy pronation. He noted that he is attempting to emulate the approach of Detroit Tigers standout Tarik Skubal, specifically in how Skubal splits the seams to rotate the ball.
The objective is to “kill the horizontal” movement. By reducing the arm-side run, Miller hopes to keep the pitch on the plate and down, rather than allowing it to drift off the zone. The progress became evident in a subsequent appearance against the Red Sox. Closing out a 3-2 victory, Miller threw back-to-back changeups to Masataka Yoshida, fouling one off and freezing the other for a strikeout, fanning the side on just 11 pitches.
“I reckon the movement profile is great,” Miller said. “In a vacuum, it’s a good pitch. [The execution] was better, too; they were lower, which was good. I’m not trying to run it as much… If you get it in a good spot, that movement doesn’t matter as much.”
Trusting the Tools in San Diego
Miller’s willingness to evolve his game mirrors a broader internal dialogue within the Padres organization about the balance between raw talent and technical adjustment. Fernando Tatis Jr., the 27-year-old outfielder and three-time All-Star, views his own evolution through a similar lens of consistency. When asked how his hitting has changed since his 2019 rookie season, Tatis suggested that while he has made minor tweaks, the core of his game remains unchanged.
“As far as knowing my strengths, and my business, I’m about the same,” Tatis said. “I go out there, be an athlete, and perform. I’ve learned things here and there, and made some tweaks, but nothing really special or different. You trust your tools.”
This trust extends to the team’s overall offensive trajectory. Despite a slow start in terms of actual run production—entering their recent stretch with the fewest runs scored and the lowest wOBA in the league—manager Craig Stammen remains optimistic. He pointed to “expected numbers,” such as xwOBA, which suggest the team is hitting the ball hard and making sound decisions, even if the results haven’t yet materialized in the win column.
The Modern Eye and Evolving Rules
The shift toward a more analytical approach to the game is not limited to the Padres. Across the league, players are finding new ways to study the game, sometimes from the most unlikely vantage points. Chicago Cubs pitcher Justin Steele, who spent a significant portion of last season recovering from an internal brace procedure on his elbow, found that watching games from home provided a clarity he lacked in the dugout.
“You observe sequences a lot better. You see swings a lot better,” Steele said. “You’re able to honestly see the strike zone, whereas when you’re watching from the dugout it’s hard to see where the pitches are ending up. I actually find myself more locked in when I’m watching from home.”
As players refine their vision, the rules of the game continue to shift around them. Veteran reliever Danny Coulombe, now with the Boston Red Sox, has praised the pitch clock for shortening games and improving the viewing experience for fans. However, the introduction of the Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system has presented a steeper learning curve.
“It’s been an adjustment, for sure,” Coulombe said. He recalled a game in Cincinnati where six calls were overturned, including a fastball he threw to Elly De La Cruz that was called a strike but overturned as a ball. “I knew it was a ball. I have a lot of late movement on my stuff, so I’ve got a lot of calls in the past. When he challenged, I was like, ‘Aaugh.’ It’s part of the game now.”
As the season progresses, the league will continue to monitor the impact of these technological shifts on player performance and umpire accuracy. For Mason Miller, the next checkpoint will be the frequency of his new weapon. Having now thrown three changeups on the season, the question is whether this “outlier” pitch becomes a permanent, strategic fixture in one of the most feared arsenals in baseball.
We invite you to share your thoughts on the evolution of the closer’s role in the comments below.
