5 MLB Pitchers Experimenting With A Kick-Change—Baseball’s Trendiest New Pitch—For 2025
Image credit: Clay Holmes (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images)
Spring is a time for pitchers to experiment with new pitches. Perhaps Paul Skenes doesn’t need a cutter or running two-seamer, but that hasn’t stopped him from tinkering.
Of course, not every new spring offering a pitcher has worked on will make it to the regular season. Additionally, starters occasionally add to their arsenal mid-season, as Hunter Brown did by adding a sinker to his repertoire in early May last season. The changes in results speak for themselves:
The pre-sinker splits admittedly come with a smaller sample, but Brown also underperformed his peripherals in 2023. A new pitch can help an entire arsenal come together.
Enter the kick-change—2025’s trendiest new pitch.
Leif Strom over on Tread Athletics’ YouTube page provides the best primer on the kick-change. Here’s a summary of the key points:
- Pitchers use their middle finger to “kick” the ball forward on its release.
- There are multiple grips to throw the kick-change.
- The goal is to throw it 8-10 mph off your fastball.
- This pitch isn’t new, but modern technology allows us to identify the traits better and make them actionable in coaching.
Today, we’ll be reviewing reports of pitchers throwing a kick-change this spring and discuss what it could mean for their upcoming seasons.
Clay Holmes, RHP, Mets
Holmes has been in the news frequently as he transitions from Yankees closer to Mets Opening Day starter. He’s been vocal about what he’s working on during this role change, including the kick-change.
Holmes’ sinker has been his most-used pitch since 2021, and the kick-change will play off it due to its lower spin rate and armside fade. This is best visualized via Thomas Nestico’s spring pitch grades:
In 2024, Holmes had three distinct pitches, though he primarily leaned on his sinker. He’s up to six offerings this spring, including the kick-change that tunnels with his sinker. It can be seen on the right-side chart, where the maroon and orange bubbles overlap.
The added look will help him turn over a lineup multiple times as a starter. The results in Grapefruit League play have been impressive: 15 strikeouts while allowing two earned runs over 14 innings.
It’s worth noting that Holmes seemed to tire in the fifth inning of his most recent outing. He’s started only four big league games and has never thrown more than 70 innings. The kick-change won’t magically turn him into an ace, but it’s a legitimate reason to buy into the hype.
Jack Leiter, RHP, Rangers
Leiter’s big league debut was as uneven as his pro career thus far, as he finished 2024 with an 8.83 ERA (5.27 xFIP) across nine appearances, including six starts. Results were better at Triple-A, but an elevated walk rate remains a concern.
With the Rangers last year, Leiter threw his four-seamer and slider a combined 80% of the time so that the kick-change would give him a proper off-speed pitch. Leiter threw 39 changeups last season, but the command was all over the place:
As Leiter explained in this interview with Foul Territory, his primary goal with the offering is to create depth. This would pair well with his heater, which has already had plus ride when thrown at the top of the strike zone.
As of mid March, it appears he’s accomplishing that depth objective. However, nine walks through 14.2 innings suggest he’s still working on his command.
Andres Muñoz, RHP, Mariners
Two years ago, Muñoz introduced a sinker to his arsenal. Since then, his K-BB% has fallen below the elite standard he set for himself in 2022. It makes sense not to rely solely on his fastball-slider combo as he did in 2022, so perhaps the kick-change would create more deception with his four-seamer.
Stuff+ and PitchingBot (via on FanGraphs) each grade Muñoz’s sinker as elite, but neither model likes his command of it:
Simply accessing average command on the kick-change could lead to a breakthrough for Muñoz in 2025. The armside movement it creates would particularly help against lefties, where most of his free passes came last season:
- Vs. RHP: 33 K% and 7 BB%
- Vs. LHP: 33 K% and 16 BB%
Grant Holmes, RHP, Braves
The “other” Holmes has been one of the fantasy community’s favorite late-round sleepers this offseason—and that was before he introduced a new offering.
Holmes tossed 68.1 frames with the Braves in 2024, registering an impressive 19.5 K/BB%. His 3.56 ERA was backed up by a 3.20 FIP and 3.52 xFIP. Just seven of his 26 appearances were starts, however.
As he prepares to compete for a rotation spot, he must be able to work through a lineup multiple times. As shown below, the green circle is roughly where his kick-change would land, a movement profile he didn’t have last year:
Another pitch that generates whiffs at a high clip would boost Holmes’ bid to start this year.
Landon Knack, RHP, Dodgers
Knack might not be as buzzy of a breakout pick as the others, but it helps that we’ve already seen him utilize the kick-change in a competitive game this season:
He threw eight against the Cubs, inducing five whiffs on six swings as he struck out three over two scoreless innings.
Knack’s kick-change generated much more horizontal break than last year’s changeup, separating the movement profile from his fastball. It’s an encouraging development for a 27-year-old looking to establish himself on the Dodgers’ pitching staff.
