Seattle Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz is expanding his pitch repertoire by incorporating a changeup more frequently, aiming to keep hitters off balance after a mixed start to the 2026 season.
The right-handed reliever has secured nine saves in 12 opportunities but has also recorded three losses. Since April 24, he has posted a 1.69 ERA.
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Muñoz abandoned the changeup last September and during the postseason because his other pitches were effective. Now, with left-handed batters hitting .
313 against him before his adjustment, he has reintroduced the pitch.
“It’s not that I’m experimenting with it,” Muñoz said.
“It’s something I’ve worked a lot on and we just think it’s the right time to throw it.”
The changeup accounted for 13 of his 337 total pitches (3.9%) but has already produced results.
Since using it in four of his last five appearances, left-handed hitters are batting just .
200 against him, and four of his seven changeups have generated swings and misses.
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A notable sequence occurred on May 11 when Muñoz struck out Houston Astros stars Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez using the pitch.
“Obviously, he’d never seen that pitch before,” Muñoz said of Altuve. “All the teams see that I had thrown it.
Now they have it in mind that I’m going to throw it at some point.”
Mariners catcher Jhonny Pereda emphasized the value of a third pitch: “When they’re getting two pitches, you only have to focus on two.
When he’s got three nice pitches, that’s really hard.”
The adjustment culminated in a 2-0 shutout victory against the Kansas City Royals, where Muñoz recorded the final outs without throwing a single fastball for the first time in his MLB career.
“I’ve learned over the years, you can throw a perfect pitch and they can still hit it,” Muñoz said.
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“The only thing you can do is keep working, and at some point, it’s going to turn out.”
