Nick Lodolo’s process finding a new breaking ball grip

Nick Lodolo still doesn’t know.

Over the last month, he has taught himself a new breaking ball grip, one that he hopes puts less pressure on his often-blistered left index finger, allows him to stay off of the injured list and also works effectively.

“The numbers say it’s coming off my hand differently,” Lodolo said about the new grip. “The question is if it’s enough. I hope the change is good.”

The good news in that in the debut game for that new grip, last week against the White Sox, Lodolo’s breaking ball looked great. He got eight whiffs on 11 swings against the pitch, he spotted three breaking balls for strikes and he threw his breaking ball more than any other pitch in the game.

“There are levels to it,” said Lodolo, who makes his next start on Sunday against the Marlins. “Yeah, it was good the other day. I need it to consistently be good.”

In the middle of July, Lodolo went on the IL with a blister. He also missed time due to blisters in 2021 (when he was a prospect), 2024, 2025 and April of 2026.

After the blister popped back up in July, he concluded that he needed a new grip because the old one was aggravating his index finger too much. Pitching coaches Matt Tracy and Oscar Marin had some ideas — “This is what we think, try this and go from there,” they told Lodolo. He tried two different grips. One of them felt better than the other.

“It’s more of a slider — I don’t know if gyro is the right word,” Lodolo said. “It’s not a huge difference (compared to the old grip). It’s a bit of a difference. The question is as I keep throwing it, week-to-week-to-week, does the shape stay the same or does it start reverting back to the other one.”

When Lodolo started working with the new grip in catch play and in bullpens, the results weren’t immediately there. It’s not easy to change the way that you throw your signature pitch after doing it a specific way for your entire life.

“My old grip, if you asked anyone else to throw it, they wouldn’t be able to do that,” Lodolo said. “But it was comfortable for me.”

He has worked to find a breaking ball that’s comfortable for him and also doesn’t irritate his index finger.

“The first bullpen I threw, the (new grip) was awful,” Lodolo said. “I kept throwing it and throwing it. I’ve got a decent spot with it now. It was a comfort thing and about getting reps with it. I’m still doing that.”

He has found some positives with the new grip. The new grip has a chance to be more consistent for him. With the way that it moves, he shouldn’t hit as many batters in the foot. He expects to be able to manipulate the pitch better with his new grip than he did with his old grip, looking to move the pitch around the plate more and spot some backdoor breaking balls.

“As I started throwing it in the bullpen, once I got the feel for it, it felt a bit easier to throw for a strike,” Lodolo said. “In the first outing (against the White Sox), that proved to be true. It made the misses not as big. It’s more consistent. That’s what I’m after.”

There’s really no playbook on how Lodolo should be going about this process. His old breaking ball grip was a unique pitch. His history of blisters were very uncommon. Now, he’s trying a new grip on the fly and working to figure this thing out.

It’ll be a process to find something that’s comfortable, effective and can last over an entire season.

Lodolo will benefit from a full offseason and spring training to work on his new grip. Now, he just has to figure it out on the fly for a Reds’ team that needs pitching.

“Obviously, we’re starting to win games,” Lodolo said. “We’ll see where we’re at at the end. For me, it’s about realizing I can still pitch at a really high level even while changing that, going out there and being myself.”