“Any lefty in the bigs right now who has success is throwing a good changeup with a good fastball,” Arnold said last week on A’s Cast. “It has really come together since after the All-Star break. I’ve been throwing it a lot more. I’ve settled with a grip that I like right now and had good success with it [in my last start].
“I don’t want to go out there and throw it just to throw it. I want to throw it with purpose and meaning in real counts where I’d use it and really get an in-game feel for it instead of just throwing it to throw it. That’s been a focus for me the last couple of weeks, especially in bullpens and out there in games. Just trusting it and leaning into it.”
Arnold’s changeup grip is slightly different than the norm.
“It’s kind of just a splitfinger and I’m throwing it like a fastball,” Arnold said. “When it’s in-zone and when I trust it, it’s been good. The more I used it and the more I trust it, the more I can have confidence with it.”
Asked about Arnold’s changeup usage increasing in that Aug. 18 outing before Monday’s series opener against the Twins at Sutter Health Park, Kotsay said there is actually a plan in place to have Arnold gradually increase how often he utilizes that changeup from now until the end of the season.
“We’ve put a development plan in place that he and the Double-A pitching coach are fully aware of,” Kotsay said. “We’re kind of mandating the pitch and the usage increase over the next few starts. We saw it increase his last start, which is a great sign, and he had a good outing.”
Overall, Arnold is performing about as well as the A’s could have hoped in what is his first full season of professional baseball. He holds a 3.67 ERA with 121 strikeouts in 108 innings over 22 total starts.
Those numbers are even more dominant over the past two and a half months. Since June 2, Arnold has posted a 2.49 ERA in his past 12 starts with 69 strikeouts and 21 walks across 61 1/3 innings. During that stretch, he has allowed one earned run or fewer in seven of those outings.
