Any Beavs heading up to Driveline this summer?

Are any Beaver players heading north to Kent, WA. to work on their hitting and pitching skills? It seems that Driveline Baseball has been an asset for Beaver Baseball. Driveline and it’s founder, Kyle Boddy operate a player development lab, sports science and research team, and a consulting operation. They test and work with baseball players from preps to the pros. Boddy has consulted with MLB teams (Reds, Red Sox, etc.). They have been acclaimed for correcting mechanical flaws, pitch design, and increasing velocity with pitchers. They have provided a timely boost to major league careers with their sophisticated approach to biomechanics and human physiology. They developed a slider that ranked within the top 5 major league slider metrics with OSU’s Aaron Lattery. They spent over two months in the lab with Travis Bazzana leading up to the 2024 season. Oregon State players have access to the lab and that has been beneficial. I wouldn't mind seeing Turley, Krieg, and several of our pitchers check in for a tune-up.



I recently saw this among their success stories and found it interesting, “Sam Hellinger of Driveline Baseball shared this example of how the understanding of the body has helped players train to get more velocity.

Justin Thorsteinson, a former PAC-12 pitcher hoping to transfer to another program, came to them throwing 87.7 mph in June of 2023 and by August was throwing 91.5 mph, and his changing how his shoulder moved was key. Scapular retraction - in rudimentary terms, how far back the throwing shoulder reaches before coming forward has been linked to velocity by biomechanics studies because it creates a big separation between the hip and the shoulder. As that separation snaps back like a rubber band, torso speed is accelerated, which is then transferred to the arm. That was a big focus for Thorsteinson.



“Based on Justin’s bio report, we determined that his most glaring need mechanically was his arm action, specifically his max shoulder external rotation and scapular retraction.”



After some work with some apparatus work and specific drills, Thorsteinson improved his scores in the specific biomechanics that they were targeting and gained almost 4 mph in fastball velocity.



*  A southpaw,Thorsteinson is 6-4, 235 and transferred to Minnesota where he made 18 appearances in 2024 for the 25-22 Golden Gophers. He pitched 37 1/3 innings, had a 4-3 record with a save and a 3.38 ERA.