Uh oh, baseballs.
Looks like Joe Kelly’s gonna throw you even harder.
Per Bill Plunkett, at the Orange County Register (which the Angels probably call the L.A. Times), our guy went to Driveline this winter.
Now, if you don’t know what Driveline is, think of it as Iron Man’s lab but for pitchers. People go there and learn how to throw harder, add spin rate (gives the ol’ horsehide a li’l extra zip!), invent new pitches (if you’re Trevor Bauer), and—in Joe Kelly’s case—personalize workouts for their body type.
The article kicked me out with a paywall after a few minutes, so no quotes, but the gist of it was that because Joe Kelly’s uniquely built (lean, quick, blood made of lightning), workouts aren’t well-specified to him. Driveline helped him make ones that are, which should help his mortal body keep pace with his otherworldly arm. Also, he’s changing his fastball grip to add spin rate—making sure he releases it off of two fingers instead of just one, making it livelier than lively, and presumably more difficult to hit than its current state of impossible.
The season is where it counts, but for what it’s worth, word’s going around that our man hit 89 mph with a curveball (!) Wednesday in his two-strikeout, one-infield hit 2020 Spring Training debut.
Warm up the fire emojis.
