Matt Strahm shows off new changeup in minor league outing, taking next step toward return
Strahm, who was dealing with a shoulder injury, was cleared to throw Saturday in a minor league game. He’ll pitch in the Phillies’ Grapefruit League finale on Monday.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — The first time Matt Strahm was cleared to throw on a flat ground after being shut down on March 5 with inflammation in his left shoulder, he decided to try out a new pitch.
Strahm had watched Phillies prospect Seth Johnson throw a few bullpen sessions this spring and had been impressed with his changeup. Johnson throws a “kick-change,” a variation of the changeup that is in vogue across baseball. Because of a slightly different grip than a typical circle change, the offering has more fade and downward movement.
Strahm decided he wanted to test out something similar.
“I’ve never had depth to a changeup,” Strahm said. “So that’s kind of why my changeup always gets thrown to the back seat with guys, because it’s not a big movement pitch. But watching Seth Johnson throw earlier in January, seeing how much movement his changeup had, I was like, ‘If I could have more just downward movement on my changeup, I think they would throw it more.’”
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For the flat-ground session, Strahm was paired with a minor league catcher who hadn’t caught him all spring, and he tested it out. The catcher told him afterward that he had a nice changeup. So Strahm kept with it.
On Wednesday, in his first bullpen session since the injury, he threw a few more. Ahead of his outing in a minor league game against the Blue Jays on Saturday, he threw a couple in warmups, and they felt good.
In the game, Strahm didn’t turn to the changeup against the first three batters he faced — two strikeouts and a double to center field — but threw three to the fourth batter, and sat him down swinging with his new pitch.
It was an overall solid inning for Strahm, who said his shoulder felt “really good.” If he recovers like normal on Sunday, Strahm will pitch in the Phillies’ Grapefruit League finale on Monday. And if that goes well, he will be ready to join the team for opening day.
According to the radar gun behind home plate, Strahm’s fastball sat in the 90-92 mph range. He said that’s about normal for this time of year. Once the weather starts warming up, he said, is when he gets into the 93-95 mph range.
The changeups he threw clocked 82-83 mph. Strahm, 33, wants to pitch until he’s 40 years old. He hopes developing new tools will help him get there.
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Even though his changeup is only a few days old, Strahm thinks he can carry it into the regular season. But he doesn’t call his own pitches, so the usage of the pitch will be primarily up to catcher J.T. Realmuto.
“J.T. busts his [butt] with the reports, so feel like when I’m shaking him off, I’m kind of disrespecting him a little,” Strahm said. “So I go with what he goes, and hopefully throwing the changeup here will show him that I can control it, and hopefully he’ll use it.”