The Mechanics of Twins Pitcher Kevin Slowey

July 2, 2009 BY Alex Eisenberg 2 Comments

I received an e-mail a while back from a father who’s son began to emulate the mechanics of Kevin Slowey after an interaction with the Minnesota Twins pitcher. I was asked to break down those mechanics…

Slowey’s not a power guy, but he sports some of the best control in the game. There are various reasons for this:

1. Slowey is a good athlete, which helps with…

2. Consistently repeating his delivery. Making this easier is…

3. His delivery is relatively simple without a lot of moving parts. Instead, Slowey’s delivery is…

4. Compact with everything centered around his core

However, the best attribute of Slowey’s delivery are his advanced front side mechanics. The below clips exemplify this:

kevin-slowey-front-side
*Credit to MLB Advanced Media

There are a couple things worth pointing out here. As Slowey’s front shoulder starts to rotate, notice how he “firms up” his glove and then notice how in the clip from the center field camera, Slowey brings everything together at the end. He doesn’t pull his glove into his hip. Rather, he stabilizes the glove and keeps it out in front of his chest and brings his chest to the glove instead of the other way around. I slow it down during the key sequence.

Some of the benefits of a firm glove out in front of the chest:

1. More consistent release point.

2. Better extension out in front because he’s bringing the chest to the glove. As a result, Slowey is releasing the ball just a little closer to home plate and he’s giving his arm more room to decelerate.

3. A lower risk of injury. Pitchers that pull their glove to their hip are shredding their shoulder over time and are much more likely to succumb to injury down the line.

Slowey’s mechanics aren’t perfect, however. He throws a bit across his body, which might help with deception, but he’s cutting the rotation of his hips a bit short I think, which could be costing him velocity. Slowey also has some recoil in his arm at the end of his deliver.

Now, many young pitchers find out that emulating a pitcher doesn’t really work. There is a reason no pitcher has the exact same delivery. However, there are certain qualities possessed by many high level throwers — for instance, Slowey’s front side mechanics — that young pitchers should emulate as long as they’re comfortable with what they’re trying to do and it’s within their physical capacity to do so. If a young pitcher follows that path, there’s a much better chance of that pitcher reaching their full potential.

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