Hitters who step into the box against Andrés Muñoz in the late innings have a good idea of what they’re going to see: a triple-digit heater or his wicked biting slider. But since last season, Muñoz has been integrating a tiny new wrinkle in his arsenal: the changeup that he developed prior to spring training last year.
Last spring, all the talk was about Muñoz’s hot sexy new “kick change”, even as he acknowledged the pitch was still in developmental form. Despite the spring buzz, Muñoz threw the pitch only
sparingly last year (~2% of the time). This season, he’s still throwing the pitch infrequently, but he’s doubled his usage of it from 2025, to about 5%, and he’s used it even more heavily at times, most notably in his recent outings against the lefty-heavy Twins and Tigers. Muñoz uses his changeup almost exclusively to lefties; of the 32 he’s thrown this season, he’s only thrown one to a righty. Ryan did a great writeup on Muñoz earlier this season, in which he noted that Muñoz had been struggling to get his heater past lefties; it looks like Muñoz started to dip into the changeup more heavily as a weapon to deal with lefties.
Mariners fans have been quick to point out the similarities between Muñoz’s changeup and the other most famous changeup in Seattle’s history, that of Mariners legend and king of the cambio, Félix Hernández. Like Félix’s changeup, Muñoz’s features similar heavy drop, between 5-7”, and comes in around 92 mph, about half a tick faster than it averaged last season, when he was still throwing it as a “kick” change, something he said he doesn’t always do now that he’s throwing the pitch more, as the grip is uncomfortable. Traditional pitching wisdom holds that a changeup is effective when there’s a large velocity differential between that and a pitcher’s fastball, but as our own Jake wrote about Félix’s changeup back in 2019, even when Félix’s fastball velocity started to decline, the changeup remained effective because it featured such a different movement profile than his fastball.
Declining velocity isn’t a concern for Muñoz, but the changeup does play off his other pitches well. While Muñoz is a traditional fastball-up slider-down reliever, the slider cuts gloveside, biting in on lefties and away from righties. The changeup tails armside, giving Muñoz a whiff-getting weapon against lefties – if he can tempt them to swing.
That’s the big if; of those 32 changeups Muñoz has thrown this season, 22 have been balls, and one a called strike (fun fact: the one called strike was also the one changeup thrown to a righty, and it was Jose Altuve). But when hitters swing, they don’t make contact – the pitch currently has a 100% whiff rate. Sometimes the changeup comes in just fully noncompetitive, too far outside to tempt even the most swing-happy of fellas.
But the changeup is more than just a pitch Muñoz hopes to throw for strikes or as a weapon against lefties. It’s a pitch he can use to give hitters a different look as opposed to just the fastball/sinker and slider. And it’s a pitch he can go to when he’s being taxed in an inning or having to throw multiple innings. In his two outings during the Giants series, he threw no changeups, mostly because he didn’t need to, both times blowing through his assigned slate of hitters on just nine pitches each time. But in a multi-inning outing against the Twins where he needed 24 pitches, he threw the changeup six times, or about 25% total.
But what Muñoz says he really values about the changeup – and why he’s not as concerned about throwing it for swinging strikes, even if that’s a nice bonus – is how it can help him reset his mechanics. Muñoz has a famously wonky delivery, falling hard off the mound to the first base side on his finish: something that’s not as noticeable when he’s getting whiffs on his heater and slider, but is a tough look when he’s walking hitters, which he’s always done at an above-average clip. But for all the sturm und drang about Muñoz’s season this year, he’s actually right in line with his career walk rate while striking out a career-high: almost 37% of hitters facing Muñoz are punching out. Muñoz credits his changeup for helping him get back in line when he’s struggling with his command.
“I used to use that pitch to reset when I have some issues with command,” said Muñoz, who has thrown a changeup since 2019, but only rarely at the big-league level until recently. “Like if I’m not able to control, I throw a changeup, and that’s my reset, like, okay, I can go back to the fastball, I can go back to the slider. It just helps me get back in line.”
“Even in the throwing program, when I throw and I feel like something is off, I throw a changeup and I throw the next fastball and it’s good. So that’s why I say that’s like a reset for me.“
But Muñoz doesn’t discount the power of the changeup when he can land it close to the zone – hence that 100% whiff rate when hitters do choose to swing.
“If it looks like it’s in the zone, they’re going to swing at it, especially with two strikes.”
For now, Muñoz is happy to use the changeup primarily as a way to check in with his body when he feels like he’s getting out of his mechanics. It’s still a distant third offering behind his heater/sinker and slider. But whether it develops into a true swing-and-miss weapon or just settles in as a way for Muñoz to check in with himself, it’s a useful tool in Muñoz’s arsenal. Sometimes change is good.
