The Pros and Cons of Driveline
Jaxson Jason
Kyle Boddy is the current Chief Technology Officer of Driveline Baseball. He founded Driveline Baseball in 2008 intending to increase pitchers’ velocity so that they can evolve with the current state of baseball as a sport. The average fastball has increased in every season since the 2008 season. In an interview with Washington Post in 2019, Boddy talked about how he founded Driveline with the intention of getting players away from the stigma that velocity doesn’t matter. “We don’t shy away from saying that. You hear all this stuff about, ‘You don’t have to throw hard; you just have to learn to pitch.’ It’s not true.”
Driveline gives players coaches, plenty of certified equipment, and the technology to track their movements to increase their throwing velocity. The program has shown plenty of success. MLB ace Trevor Bauer had spent the offseason before the 2019 season using Driveline and ended up with a 2.45 Earned Run Average (ERA) in May before getting shipped out of Cleveland to Cincinnati. The following season Bauer posted an MLB-leading 1.73 ERA and earned the first CY Young award of his career.
The increases in velocity can, however, lead to some bad injuries to players if their bodies aren’t prepared to handle the intense workouts. In an interview with ICC Manager Brett Kelley, Kelley said that he thinks that people believe that anyone can do these workouts with no repercussions to their bodies which, in turn, leads to players severely damaging their muscles in their elbows and shoulders. Players who are “wire bodies” don’t overexert their muscles because of the high risk of injury. Kelley also believes that people need to take their offseasons to rest their bodies more and not throw themselves into these hyperintense workouts.
High school baseball prospect Nathan Cooley also expressed his concern about Driveline Baseball, stating that he personally knows of other players needing major reconstructive surgery such as Tommy John surgery to repair a player’s UCL. Cooley is a firm believer that “long tosses and weight lifting is the best way to gain velocity without the risk.” He also stated that Driveline does work but that the “risk/reward ratio isn’t worth it.”
The question being imposed is: “Is Driveline Actually Safe?” The answer is that if your body is attuned to these types of physically demanding workouts, then yes. However, if you aren’t “well-built” then the answer is to bulk up in order to get the muscle mass necessary to maintain the workout’s high intensity. Regardless of whether you deem Driveline safe to use or not, one thing remains true throughout. Velocity is still king.