After growing up in Parma, Ohio, a blue-collar suburb of Cleveland; Kyle Boddy attended a small private university in the Cleveland metro area at Baldwin Wallace College. While attending college full-time and working full-time, Boddy began to realize the traditional college route was not for him. He dropped out of school despite being a great student. Intelligent and passionate, he was ready for a new challenge. Professional poker.
Boddy began playing poker a great deal during the poker boom of the mid-2000’s. He used his analytical mind to learn the rhythms of the game and did very well. With a love for computer programming, Boddy soon shifted to the online scene. Both for poker and personal. He met his future wife, Astrid Gielen, online and moved to Seattle where he ended up marrying Astrid and started an online business connected to Pokerstars with a friend. After a long run, The Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act dried up an entire industry Boddy was connected to. Boddy had to pivot, a skill he had been developing for quite some time.
After job searching, Boddy landed a job at Microsoft as a software developer. With a child on the way, Boddy’s job at Microsoft helped meet the needs of his growing family. Despite helping to pay the bills, the job left him very unfulfilled. It provided great experience developing software, but he was miserable. A new passion began to emerge on the side. A passion for baseball development. A former amateur baseball player himself, Boddy looked for where he could absorb the enjoyment of the game of baseball again.
Boddy’s wife Astrid encouraged him to coach a local little league team in Kent, Washington. Fusing his love for the game of baseball with his analytical mind, Boddy began to study methods for baseball player development. He began to ask poignant questions about the development process and how to best serve the youth athletes he was coaching. What makes players throw harder? What makes them stay healthy from injury? How can I help these kids get better at the game? Boddy began to do research in medical journals to find these answers. He scoured for peer-reviewed, data supported, methodology to improve his players. He found there was very little research out there on how to track baseball development. So he decided he would do the research himself.
(Driveline)
What started as a passion away from work began to evolve. Boddy began to track and measure the development of his players. He began renting a small barn-like space to set up cages, high speed cameras, and his own makeshift biomechanics laboratory. Eventually, a coaching friend dropped some weighted baseballs off at the facility and donated them to Boddy’s cause instead of throwing them away. Boddy began to research the effects of overload and underload training for throwers. A methodology in which pitchers throw baseballs heavier and lighter than the weight of the baseball in a game. He consulted with physical therapists about the risks, and how to ensure they could be safely used to train pitchers without impeding range of motion in throwing arms. Everything about the process was documented and tracked. The results were astonishing. Youth pitchers began to increase their throwing velocity and overall arm health. Two distinctives necessary for a future in the game. It became very apparent Boddy had a space and methodology worthy of pursuing.
In the same way he pursued professional gambling, Boddy thrusted all of his passion, intelligence, and analytical prowess towards finding a way to build a baseball business, all while working full-time for Microsoft. In the same way he moved across the country for a girl, Boddy was not afraid of taking a risk.
The new risk was to quit his full-time, well-paying job at Microsoft and pursue his baseball development business full-time. All while supporting a family with a new baby, and new mortgage. While living paycheck to paycheck, Boddy went full force in the baseball development space. In 2008, while his client list grew, he began publishing articles on his website “Driveline Mechanics.”
(New York Times)
Four years after launching “Driveline Mechanics” Boddy officially founded Driveline Baseball at his training facility in Kent, Washington. His clients went from youth pitchers to professional, Major League pitchers. As his client list grew he began to direct the offseason training for major leaguers such as Dan Straily, Caleb Cotham, and most notable of all was another analytical mind in Trevor Bauer of the Cleveland Indians. At the time, Bauer was a highly touted pitching prospect and former 3rd overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft. Bauer was as notable of a name in the industry as anyone, and now he was a client of Kyle Boddy and Driveline Baseball. Trevor Bauer has evolved into one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball in large part to off-seasons spent at Driveline Baseball.
Driveline baseball has quickly become the leading force in the baseball industry. It is now a multi-million dollar company and is on the cutting edge of the shift in baseball development to data-driven methodology. Over eight pitching trainers have been hired by Major League franchises after working for Kyle Boddy at Driveline Baseball. Kyle Boddy has served as a consultant for multiple major league franchises as well as some of the top NCAA college baseball programs in Oregon State, Vanderbilt, among others. In October of 2019, the Cincinnati Reds hired Boddy to be the Director of Pitching Initiatives. Boddy selected the Reds among many offers from other Major League teams.
(New York Times)
Having never played professional or high level college baseball, Boddy became one of the most sought after player development minds in the game. After starting with training the youth baseball players of Kent, Washington, Kyle Boddy is now the most sought after pitching trainer in the world. His company that began as a place for him to store his thoughts via blogging is now the leading innovator in baseball player development. Just recently, Boddy has begun to consult for teams outside of baseball, working with a few National Basketball Association teams on biomechanics, and player development initiatives.
The pursuit of mastery
For Boddy, none of this journey ever began with the idea of training elite level athletes. The driving force of this rise into prominence was not fueled by a desire to work with notable characters. This all began for Boddy as he sought out the best methods for training the youth athletes he had. There’s value in casting a vision for the future. There’s tremendous value in having a destination in mind . But perhaps the supreme value is in doing the best with what you have, where you are at. For Boddy, it began with his little league team in Kent, Washington.
When the time is right
Living paycheck to paycheck while supporting a small family is the time to hold on to a well paying job. It’s the time to make sure you show up on time, and stay a little late to ensure you’re doing a good job. It’s not the time to rock the boat with the boss, and for most of us, it’s not the time to launch your “side hobby.” Kyle Boddy seemed to recognize if you spend all your time waiting for “the right time” you’ll probably end up doing nothing over time. There’s never a “right time” to make a drastic change, launch a company, write a book, go back to school, or pursue a new career. Waiting for “the right time” can be a cover for “I’m afraid it will fail.” What a shame it would be to not have the services of Driveline Baseball had Kyle Boddy said it wasn’t the “right time.”
Do not despise these small beginnings
If you want to change the world with your new idea, perhaps you should start in your neighborhood. Many hope to catch the attention of notable, influential figures in hopes their idea will take off. Had Boddy not spent years training youth pitchers he would never have been prepared to talk to major league pitchers on training methods. Boddy didn’t need a “big break” he needed years to test and track his methods in the shadows of a Seattle suburb. The small beginnings of Driveline Baseball were essential to the formation of what is now changing the sporting world. Boddy was waiting in the wings. The work in obscurity was bound to come to the forefront. Big things start small.
If you want to train the thoroughbreds, you first must start with the ponies. Honor the process.
Stay The Course,
JB
Book of the week: MVP Machine by Ben Lindburgh
Podcast episode of the week: Linch With A Leader: Mark Richt.
Article of the week: Velocity School: Where Pitcher’s Throw Harder by Tyler Kepner
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