baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, the vulcan changeup pitch (otherwise known as a vulcan or trekkie) is a type of

changeup A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball. The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball, but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced spee ...

; it closely resembles a forkball and

split-finger fastball A split-finger fastball or splitter is an off-speed pitch in baseball that initially looks like a fastball from the batters perspective, but then drops suddenly. Derived from the forkball, it is aptly named because the pitcher puts the index a ...

. It is a variation of the

circle changeup In baseball, a circle changeup (also called the okay changeup, related to the thumb and index finger touching) or circle change is a pitch thrown with a grip that includes a circle formation, hence the name circle changeup. The circle is forme ...

, and when mastered can be extremely effective. Much like a forkball, the vulcan is gripped between two fingers on the hand, but rather than the middle and index finger as with the forkball or

, it sits in between the middle and ring fingers to make a v-shape (

Vulcan salute The Vulcan salute is a hand gesture popularized by the 1960s television series Star Trek: The Original Series, ''Star Trek''. It consists of a raised hand with the palm forward and the thumb extended, while the fingers are parted between the mid ...

) when releasing to the catcher. It is thrown with fastball arm speed but by pronating the hand by turning the thumb down, to get good downward movement on it. The pitch is uncommon in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Ian Kennedy throws this style of changeup instead of others because he "found it more comfortable and had more movement". Among the others who have thrown it are John Gant, former relievers Randy Tomlin and

Joe Nelson Joseph George Nelson (born October 25, 1974) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. High school Nelson attended St. Joseph's High School in Alameda, California. At St. Joseph, Nelson played basketball with NBA star Jason Kidd. Coll ...

, and most notably former all-star closer Éric Gagné, for whom the vulcan changeup was considered one of his best pitches.

Roy Oswalt Roy Edward Oswalt (; born August 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Oswalt played for the majority of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Houston Astros. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Texa ...

adopted this pitch during the 2010 offseason and preferred it over the circle changeup. Number 1 pick of the 2023 draft, Paul Skenes, throws a vulcan changeup. Nelson explained his choice for naming the pitch: "It was either going to be Nanu Nanu or the Vulcan.

Spock Spock is a fictional Character (arts), character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), USS ''Enterpri ...

just seemed like a cooler character than Mork." The pitch has been nicknamed the "Trekkie", because of the Vulcan symbol, from the television show ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'', that appears in the grip of the ball.

References

{{Baseball Baseball pitches Star Trek fandom