SI

Corbin Burnes Dizzied a Batter With His 'Wiffle Ball' Changeup

Stats show that Corbin Burnes has made his changeup more deceptive in June.
Josh Wilson|
Baltimore Orioles pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) delivers in the second inning against the Texas Rangers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports
Baltimore Orioles pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) delivers in the second inning against the Texas Rangers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports | Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

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Baltimore Orioles

In the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Smith stepped into a swing. As he loaded up to cut, it looked like his read on the ball was solid. But as he started to swing, the pitch suddenly darted toward the outside of the zone, out of reach for the left-handed batter.

Whiff.

Such has been the fate for several batters attempting to hit Corbin Burnes's changeup in June.

Orioles announcers were mystified by the pitch, saying, "That looked like a wiffle ball right there."

And since June, Burnes has gotten the pitch to behave more like one. He's thrown the pitch more infrequently, but slowed down the spin—all while retaining the same level of speed—which has resulted in more break both horizontally and vertically. Here's the Statcast data:

Segment

Pitches

Games

Pitches per game

Pitch velo

Pitch spin rate

Horizontal break

Vertical break

Before June

120

11

10.91

89.06

2,052

-1.108

0.604

June

34

5

6.80

89.21

2,005

-1.159

0.637

Percent change

-37.67%

0.17%

-2.31%

4.61%

5.42%

Velo, spin rate, and break are average per pitch.

While the strike rate on the pitch has not improved, he has gotten a greater number of called strikes on the pitch, emphasizing the deception the pitch creates.

Seasonally, the changeup has produced a batting average of .088 and a slug of .176. Batters have only been able to get a single multi-base hit on the pitch type, and two singles. It has otherwise resulted in 22 field-outs.

It's not his most-used pitch, but Burnes has used the changeup to his advantage as a deceptive sequencing weapon in his arsenal.

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Josh Wilson
JOSH WILSON

Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.

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