The Mechanical Adjustments of Jordan Lyles, Part 1
I’ve written a lot about Jordan Lyles this past year and part of the reason why is because I’m intrigued by how he’s adjusted since being drafted in 2008, identifying flaws in his game and making the mechanical adjustments necessary to address the issue. So this is a two-part series here and deals with the adjustments made by Lyles to improve the quality of his stuff and improve the velocity on his fastball.
I think you also have to give credit to the Houston Astros’ development staff in their work with Lyles. And speaking of the Astros, be sure to purchase tickets to home games in 2010 and get more information on the team by going to Crawfish Boxes today.
I’ll give you a couple angles, the first from behind home plate, where the draft version is on the left and the more recent version is on the right:
*Credit to the MLB Scouting Bureau and to Minor League Baseball
To start with his posture, he’s a bit more upright in 2009. You can see in the above graphic that his leg kick is closer to his body and the toes are pointed down. Overall he establishes himself in a more athletic and compact position.
Secondly, notice the arm slot has changed. The lower arm slot likely gives him more lateral movement on his fastball.
Third, Lyles does a better job of using gravity and momentum to his advantage. You can see this in the clips below — in his draft video, Lyles is not a tall-and-fall guy but he doesn’t lead with his helps as well as he does in 2009.
*Credit to the MLB Scouting Bureau and to Minor League Baseball
There is also a better rhythm with his hands. They are held in roughly the same spot — the draft version’s hands are just a bit higher to be exact — until the front leg starts dropping. In 2009, the hands drop along with the front leg and then break. Lyles breaks his hands earlier in 2009 than in his draft video. The change mostly has to do with timing. Lyles changed certain parts of his mechanics and subsequently had to adjust the timing of some other mechanical attributes in order to make everything “click”.
When you look at the two deliveries as a whole, you can see there is better rhythm, better timing, and an overall better flow to his delivery in 2009. It’s more athletic and less mechanical.
There is more bend in his back leg as he strides forward, allowing him to get more drive, more power out of his delivery as well as enabling Lyles to increase the length of his stride. Continuing with the theme of better rhythm, better flow, this applies to his arm action as well. The timing is much better than it was before.
Lastly, the extension and finish Lyles gets after release is much better than it was before. He does an excellent job of finishing his pitches with intent, which is a necessary component of velocity. Lyles is also releasing the ball just a little bit closer to home plate, giving his fastball more of a sneaky quality to it.
One thing I’d like to see him work on is shoring up his front side mechanics. I suppose he gets the job done, but the glove ends up down either by his shin or his hip. Lyles throws strikes, but he needs to improve his command and I think shoring up his front side mechanics — meaning the firming up and stabilizing of his glove out in front of chest — would lead to better command and would increase his chances of staying healthy in the future.
An issue Lyles has had difficulty with is keeping the ball down in the strike zone consistently. In part 2, I’ll look at the adjustments he’s made from 2009 to 2010 in an effort to address that problem.
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