KENNY GILES

EVALUATION


The first clip is of Mike Mussina. He is demonstrating the bow/arch/bow of the spine. The red lines show the bow/arch....the final bow is not shown. The final bow is the forward bend at the waist as you see in all the other clips. Carpenter, Bonderman, Beckett, and Clemens all work their spine like this.















THIS IS CRITICAL TO GETTING MAX POWER OUT OF YOUR BODY WITHOUT SACRIFICING COMMAND.

The first bow is a sitting action....you get some bend at the waist but not a lot. It is more of a 'gather'. It is getting 'athletic'. Many call it the 'linebacker' position....or the defensive basketball position. Note that a large and significant difference is it is from one weighted leg. Duh. Of course it is. But the significance comes in the fact that to bow/arch/bow properly the weight must remain back. It should feel like your rear leg is a pedestal that your rear hip is centered over.....FROM WHICH IT CAN TURN. There is a large difference between 'turning' the hip 'over' the leg....and pushing the rear hip forward against the leg. The arch is arching of your back above the rear hip. The final bow is the forward bend at the waist as you throw.

This same movement is absent in Kenny Gile's delivery. He bends forward at the waist....too much....and then he lifts back up....and then he bends at the waist again to throw the ball. His move is similar in 'look'....but the professionals are doing something far different. They have a completely different movement pattern.

The arch of the back while keeping the weight back is very important. I can go into a lot of words to try to describe what to do....but I think the pictures suffice. Just try to duplicate what you see.

Key in on Beckett....watch how the movement is completely in his rear hip....how his bow...then his arch...then his final bow....is all rear hip movement. That FREEDOM of the hip moving around the top of the leg, around the ball of the femur, is CRITICAL. Keeping the weight back is equally critical. THE GOAL IS TO CREATE A RAG WRINGING FEELING IN YOUR LOWER BACK ABOVE THE REAR HIP. You do that by coiling the hip rearward against a resisting rear leg. The rear leg's knee is trying to turn down and in AS the rear hip coils rearward. The actual movement is deep in the rear hip socket joint. A bind is created in that hip socket. It should feel as if you could snap off the ball of the femur if the hip could turn far enough. In other words....it must get tight in the rear hip socket.


Below is a side view of Giles and Clemens.










While the differences exist...they are much easier to see in the front view.



















The tilted shoulders of Clemens shows that his rear hip is in control. He wants/needs to keep his weight back so the 'arch' can happen. As the arch in the lower back occurs, a tilt in the shoulders results. He has a balance 'over' his rear hip. Notice his MOSTLY upright torso centered over the rear hip. Compare that to Kenny Giles posture where he is leaning forward. The MOST telling difference though is in the 'stretch' Clemens' achieves across his chest. Notice his 'barrel' chest. When you arch your back AND attempt to have your elbows touch each other behind your back, your chest will barrel like Clemens. When your chest barrels while command and control is in the rear hip, the turning action in that hip turns the torso...it drives the torso. I call this a drive train. An engaged transmission. Clemens' is not in neutral...he is in drive. His rear hip/leg is driving....turning....the torso. The goal is to get the rear hip to 'pull' your arm through. When your rear hip is driving....and your elbows are back....your arm is 'behind' the power source....it is behind the rear hip. ONLY in that scenario can the rear hip 'pull'....yank....the arm through. For anything to pull the resistance (the arm in throwing....the barrel in hitting) must be behind the power source.

Currently Kenny Giles pushes the ball with his arm.....with momentum from the lower body. In Clemens, Beckett, Bonderman, and Carpenter....because of their rear hip bow/arch/bow action....their rear hip pulls the arm through. It yanks the arm through. They use their body very effectively....there is less stress on their arm...and therefore they have better command.

I find it amazing that Kenny Giles produces the velocity he does with these mechanics. He is a freak of nature....said in a complimentary manner. With these mechanics changes, he should experience much better command as he will not 'work' as hard to generate his velocity. Currently he works his torso extremely hard to generate power. His lean forward then back moves his head to an extreme degree. I'm not a 'don't move your head guy'. The head ALWAYS moves left for a right handed pitcher as he arches his back. It is a must. However, Kenny Giles head movement is extreme. If he can learn to generate the power from a more 'quiet' body, from 'under the hood' so to speak....from his rear hip....then his command will improve significantly. And it is quite possible his velocity will increase. That being said....changing ones throwing motion can be a difficult thing to do. Tim Tebow spent the entire off season trying to change his motion. And in his first NFL pass he used his old motion. That is not exactly an apples to apples comparison....because Tebow has a delivery quickness factor to deal with that a pitcher does not.

Kenny Giles can be as good as he is willing to work for.

In summary.....as short and concise as I can make it..... THE GOAL IS TO CREATE A RAG WRINGING FEELING IN YOUR LOWER BACK ABOVE THE REAR HIP.