FORT MYERS, Fla. — Earlier in spring training, Rick Porcello noted he was working on a new changeup grip for 2019. It’s a pitch he’s turned to a fair amount in his career, though he tends to maintain a pretty even spread with his four others.

Eduardo Rodriguez and Chris Sale also utilize their changeup a good amount. Rodriguez used it more in 2018 (21.18 percent) than he had any other season at the Major League level (according to Brooks Baseball). Of his two off- [...]

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Earlier in spring training, Rick Porcello noted he was working on a new changeup grip for 2019. It’s a pitch he’s turned to a fair amount in his career, though he tends to maintain a pretty even spread with his four others.

Eduardo Rodriguez and Chris Sale also utilize their changeup a good amount. Rodriguez used it more in 2018 (21.18 percent) than he had any other season at the Major League level (according to Brooks Baseball). Of his two off-speed pitches, Sale still favored his slider (34.55 percent) to his changeup (15.49 percent) in 2018.

Like Rodriguez, David Price turned to his changeup more in 2018 (22.82 percent) than in his shortened 2017 season (14.60 percent), using it in a similar manner to 2015 (22.64 percent) and 2016 (22.88). Much like in 2015 and 2016, Price used his change more as the regular season went along, reaching his peak in September (28.88 percent), the most he’s used it in a month — playoffs or regular season — since August of 2015 (29.20 percent).

Prior to 2015, Price never used his changeup with such frequency. In his first two full years as the big league level, he didn’t even use it six percent of the time. Part of the reason could be he still had his slider from his days at Vanderbilt. With the exclusion of 2009 to 2010, where he saw a drop in the percentage of times he used his changeup, Price went to the well more and more each season until 2017, where he saw a drop again.

Furthermore, there hasn’t been a pattern to Price’s reliance on the pitch from month-to-month for much of his career. He’s not going to use it the same exact amount each game or month — no one does that with any pitch — but there are some cases of major ebbs and flows, as well as times where he used it significantly more in April or May than he did in September. A litany of variables can lead to this.

That’s what made 2018 unique. It’s the only year he used changeup more every single month as the regular season progressed. (He used it slightly less in October, a drop of just 1.72 percent.)

As Price put it, he used it “way more” in the second half of the season than he did in the first. Again, he turned to the changeup more in May than in April and so on, but the big jump came in his July 12 start. -- 27.62 percent of the time, after using it 18.22 percent of the time in his starts prior.

So what sparked the change?

“Probably results,” he said. “If I’m getting (dumped) on, I’m not going to use it. If I’m getting outs, I’m going to use it more.”

The results from that moment on speak for themselves. He struck out eight and gave up three runs over 6 2/3 innings in his last start before the All-Star break, and he took off from there he took off.

Among American League starting pitchers who made at least 10 starts after the Midsummer Classic, Price had the second-lowest ERA (2.25), only trailing eventual A.L. Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell (1.17), ranking sixth in the same category across all of MLB. He also struck out exactly one batter per inning on average, while opponents only hit .200 against him.

“For these guys to keep dominating at the big league level, they have to make adjustments,” manager Alex Cora said. “You see it with CC (Sabathia), you see it with (Justin) Verlander, you see it with David. They were special when they were throwing the way they were throwing, and for them to still dominate is a testament to who they are and what they’re willing to do.”

Despite the success, Price won’t pull the string blindly going forward. In part because of matchups and situations. The way an at-bat transpires can quickly dictate what pitch or pitches work best in a given situation.

Additionally, the nature of the changeup plays a role. Perhaps more so than any other pitch, it’s about feel.

Though there may be instances he uses it less, Price knows he can’t throw it by the wayside altogether, no matter what it looks like on a given day or over a period of time. He has to figure out a way to execute his changeup and use it in the most effective possible manner.

“I mean, even if I’m feeling bad with it, I still got to mix it in, so it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’ve got to throw it.”