Offspeed
Vulcan Change (Split-Change)
Named for the Star Trek hand sign. You wedge the ball between your middle and ring fingers to make a 'V,' which kills spin and makes the ball tumble and drop. It comes in slow off fastball arm speed and acts a lot like a splitter.
The grip
Wedge the ball deep between the middle and ring fingers so it forms a 'V' (the Star Trek Vulcan salute), rather than between the index and middle fingers as a forkball does. The pitch traces to reliever Joe Nelson.
What it does
Thrown with fastball arm speed while pronating the hand (thumb down) to generate downward break; the wide-finger wedge lowers spin, giving it more tumble and drop than a circle change and a look close to a split-finger.
What it really is
A split-change relative to the changeup family that behaves like a split-finger; named for the V-shaped Vulcan-salute grip, with the ball seated between the middle and ring fingers instead of the splitter's index-and-middle placement.
Who throws itJoe Nelson (associated with originating and popularizing the grip).
Study this first
Wedging the ball between the middle and ring fingers kills spin, so the Vulcan tumbles and drops much like a split-finger. The filed Splitter is the closest shape on the board to study.
Basic file
This pitch has a sourced one-line grip and movement and an honest explanation, not yet a filed specimen with authored grip geometry and a full craft chapter. A fuller breakdown is coming. Sourced, not corrected.
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