Baseball America ranked McCutchen’s changeup as the best in the Pirates’ farm system. Until this season, Lincoln had used the classic circle-changeup grip to mixed results. He picked McCutchen’s brain and has since adopted his teammate’s technique.
“It’s one of those things to where I was just trying to find the grip that would get the speed differential between my fastball and the changeup,” Lincoln said. “I’ve found that, and now it seems to be working, and it has depth and action to it. It’s a good pitch for me now. I’m able to throw it with a lot more confidence, and, hopefully, (the Pirates) see that, and it gives them a little more reason to maybe make a move.”
We’ll see. I didn’t see a lot of devastating changeups in Lincoln’s recent start against Toledo.