Reds Hire Trevor Bauer's Close Friend and Pitching Instructor as Roving Coordinator
By Chris Pyo
Trevor Bauer is trying whatever he can to revive his career. After a stellar 2018 with the Cleveland Indians where he went 12-6 with a sparkling 2.21 ERA, Bauer plunged back to earth this season and was traded to the Cincinnati Reds after an especially ugly outing, where he chucked a baseball over center field.
And now, the Reds are bringing in a close friend of Bauer's, Kyle Boddy from Driveline Performance, in order to help Bauer re-achieve his form.
This is quite an interesting move. The #reds have hired Kyle Boddy from Driveline Performance, a data-driven facility in Seattle frequented by Trevor Bauer.
— Mark Sheldon (@m_sheldon) October 1, 2019
Driveline Performance is a facility focused on enhancing player's skills through hard data and technology, and Bauer's been training there for quite a while.
According to Boddy himself, he'll be working primarily with the Reds' minor league affiliates rather than with the Reds, which means that Bauer may not be able to work with Boddy and his technology as much as he wants to.
Tremendously excited to join the Cincinnati @Reds.
— Kyle Boddy (@drivelinebases) October 1, 2019
A few things:
1) I will remain at @DrivelineBB.
2) I am Director of Pitching Initiatives // Pitching Coordinator.
3) I work almost entirely in the minor leagues, so fortunately, I won't see @BauerOutage any more than I have to. pic.twitter.com/QMD7voD6Mm
However, it would only make sense for Bauer to get at least a couple of extra sessions in with Boddy. After that terrible of a season for Bauer, where he went 2-5 with an astronomical 6.39 ERA after joining the Reds, the righty is in desperate need of some mechanical tweaks.
We'll see if Bauer's performance improves at all. It'll have to if he wants to be a mainstay in the Reds' starting rotation for the 2020 season.