The Driveline Effect: Dallas Keuchel's Resurgence Unveiled Through an Off-Season Transformation

[Theodore Tollefson]

Dallas Keuchel has returned to professional baseball on a minor league deal with the Twins. But his journey to get him to where he was now, was not an easy one nor one he could have done without help from Driveline's Pitching Director Chris Langin. 

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints

ST. PAUL – Dallas Keuchel made himself a household name in 2015 when he won the American League Cy Young Award and helped pitch the Houston Astros to their first postseason appearance since moving over to the American League. Now, he can be seen making starts for the St. Paul Saints as he attempts to work his way back to the big leagues. 

The last two seasons in the majors have been a different story for him. His pitches became much easier for hitters to see, and opponents batting average on balls in play reached new highs against Dallas Keuchel. In 2021, opposing batters hit .308 off of balls put into play against Keuchel; in 2022, that number reached a career-worst .384. 

Following the results of his 2022 season, Keuchel knew he needed time away from the diamond to find out what he still had in him. 

"I think a lot of it is it's just being confident in what you do, and I think at any point, you can gain it or lose it," said Keuchel while reflecting on his last two seasons. "That's why to me, it's the hardest sport. That's why there are so many dang levels to get up to where you want to be. Then you have to stay there is the hardest thing of all."

After the 2022 season, Keuchel knew he needed to see someone to help with biomechanics on the mound. He initially planned to see someone in Salt Lake City until another MLB pitcher, Tyler Chatwood, suggested going to Driveline's new facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

"He knew that I was looking to do a little bit of bodywork to see how I was moving compared to previous years. I wanted to get some sort of biomechanics data on myself, and he just hit me up and said, 'I am going to Driveline, they have some biomechanics stuff that they do as well.' And I said, 'You know, let's go check it out.' I think it was pretty much because of him, I stayed in Scottsdale."

Keuchel arrived at the facility in December and was introduced to one of Driveline's Director of Pitching, Chris Langin. Langin has worked with many professional pitchers at Driveline, but he described Keuchel as a unique case when he came in. 

"The biggest thing with Keuchel is he's never been anything below an average big league pitcher when he's thrown at least 88 miles per hour on average," said Langin. "The main thing I tried to remind him of is normally when guys age, the biggest issue is stuff deteriorates. But his stuff really is still at the level that it was in a lot of these years where he had a lot of success."

The partnership between Keuchel and Langin was a one-in-a-million making. Keuchel found a new, trustworthy mind to make him a better athlete. He attributes much of his success to his return to professional baseball this season to Langin. 

"Chris has been very instrumental. I trust Chris now probably the most out of anybody, and it's not like I have a ton of trusted minds. Especially as your career progresses, there's always a benefit to having trusted eyes on you. I think he does a really great job with Driveline and being the pitching director," said Keuchel. 

Getting the velocity of Keuchel's fastball from where it was in 2022 at 87 mph back up to 88 was a key focus of his time at Driveline. But what became more beneficial as time passed was taking him away from those lonely moments on a Major League mound when things weren't going his way and finding fun in being an athlete again. 

One thing that Langin did to help Keuchel out in a controlled environment was removing a catcher to throw at the facility. While not conventional, the removal of the catcher allowed for more opportunity for the pair to focus on Keuchel's biomechanics, where he needed retooling the most. 

"Being able to push the catcher out of the way and just work on my body movement, I think helped me in ways that I honestly never even thought about. This off-season rejuvenated me mentally. I enjoyed pushing my body to a limit that really was teetering on the edge of too much," said Keuchel. 

 

In the last two seasons, Keuchel's back hip from his delivery wasn't feeling the same. Still, Driveline's biomechanics diagnosis and workaround was one way he pushed his body to new limits to reconfigure his motion. 

As Langin put it, it took reverse engineering with the biomechanics taken with motion capture to see how they could configure his stuff back to where it was before departing the Houston Astros in 2018. 

"We wanted to get as much information possible to diagnose that. It can sometimes be difficult to make mechanical changes in a season whereas if you change the environment, take away the catcher, throw a different type of ball that's a little squishy, and such, they can change the environment. And oddly enough, it kind of helps a guy who hasn't done it before, to kind of manipulate his body and try some new things," said Langin. 

The three months of the off-season working on changing his physical movement to help regain his velocity brought Keuchel to a place in March where he could begin entertaining offers to sign with teams again. The Twins had always been on his radar as a possible team to sign with, and as he continued his time at Driveline into June, they were one of four teams he had narrowed down to get a deal with. 

"Honestly, two weeks ago it was down to three or four offers from teams that I really had to take a step back and do some extra homework saying, 'Hey, you know, is this the right fit?' Ultimately, I felt like Minnesota was one of those teams to start off the year that I was really pushing for as well. I just kept coming back to Minnesota, and it was just hard to say no," said Keuchel. 

The day came to sign a minor-league deal with the Twins on June 22, and he was assigned to Triple-A. Keuchel has only two starts under his belt with the St. Paul Saints, but the 8 1/3 innings he's thrown have shown the results of his time at Driveline working for the better. 

"I think he just really understands where he's at currently," said Saints pitching coach Pete Larson. "What he can maximize [as a pitcher] and what is good swing and miss stuff and where the target zones need to be. I've been super impressed to see the shape that he has come in with us."

Langin has been keeping track of Keuchel's first couple of starts returning to pro ball, and he's been impressed to see the results against hitters. 

"There's still really some proponents that this guy is hard to hit. And I think the velocity, honestly, is going to climb up a bit from that first start. He's moving around a lot and doing a lot of things. But I think overall, it's good to see him back out there," said Langin. 

While getting back to the Majors is the key for Keuchel, he's just glad to be back on a mound and having fun once again as a ballplayer. 

"I know it's not going to be given to me, but at the same time, I'm very comfortable with myself now. And I've always been that way except for the past year. It was an outlier in terms of just resetting and rebooting. Now I'm just enjoying the game again, and enjoying coming to the park," said Keuchel. 

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[NotAboutWinning]

Nice story. I hope he makes his way back… both for him and the Twins!

[Dave Borton]

"Being able to push the catcher out of the way and just work on my body movement, I think helped me in ways that I honestly never even thought about..."

Well, there goes another BP catching job by the wayside <winks>. Dashed dream.

[Doctor Gast]

Are the Twins considering using him as a RP? or just SP? IMO we could do better even in a minor league deal.

[JD-TWINS]

Experience is a big deal - confidence is even a bigger deal if paired with experience………he seems to have both right now. He could be a nice shot in the arm, innings eater in August/September as a starter. He could be the long reliever as well.

With his kind of stuff, it seems you may only want guys to see him once? He’s Maeda with less velocity. He does/did have a nice sinking fastball at on point.

Once he’s up he can’t be sent down without someone else claiming him. If he’s successful in St. Paul over the next 3-4 weeks I would expect they’ll make a spot for him……for no other reason, just to keep others fresh.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

One of the better articles posted here in a long time.

Thanks for telling Keuchel's story.  This signing went relatively under the radar, but may have some legs.  Guys that have success than have to fight back from failure tend to bring great value and experience to a clubhouse.   It would not surprise me in the least to see him on the big team this year.

As a 4/5 pitcher, he could easily be that guy that is still kicking around 10 years from now (think Rich Hill).   

[tony&rodney]

Pitching is really fun when one can just enjoy the competition and make good decisions about your pitch choices. When doubt and indecision take away the enjoyment, the commitment to any pitch declines. The edge is a fine line. A pitcher needs total command and control to find success. Dallas knows what good outings feel like and could contribute to the Twins. For now it has to be fun for him to be pitching for the Saints, especially with the way that the St. Paul team is banging the baseballs around the yard in support of their pitchers. 

[John Belinski]

Not sure Twins need another SP, but he would certainly provide help from the bullpen. Hope he makes it back to majors.

[BSLinPA]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

Are the Twins considering using him as a RP? or just SP? IMO we could do better even in a minor league deal.

Interesting, Doc.  Please share the minor league SP/long RP deals you have in mind.  

[GNess]

Interesting article!

 

[terrydactyls]

The focus of his time at Driveline was to increase his velocity from 87 to 88?  Really?

[tarheeltwinsfan]

I'm glad the Twins took a chance on Keuchel and Kuechel put his faith in the Twins. Although for Keuchel a big part of it may be that the Twins have no lefty starters and will lose 2 starters to FA next year.

[saviking]

WHAT IF?

I bet Keuchel could pitch 3 innings every 4th day physically. So what if every 4th day our starter goes 5 or 6 innings and Keuchel takes it from there. If 6 innings take it home and if 5 inning pitch his 3 innings, then, if we need a save bring in Duran or if the game is in hand bring in someone else.

The benefit is that every 4th day the bullpen gets to take off and reset ..

[Dantes929]

1 hour ago, terrydactyls said:

The focus of his time at Driveline was to increase his velocity from 87 to 88?  Really?

I was thinking the same thing.   They showed a session from when he was about 89 but let's stick with 1 mph.    If you subtracted 1 mph from every Brad Radke fastball in his career would he still be a Twins HOFer or would he be Brad who?

[Teflon]

There needs to be something for struggling hitters as effective at improving their performance as Driveline is for pitchers. Why yes, I do have some certain hitters in mind.

[twinssporto]

Great article! Thank you for writing it! 

It will be fun to watch what he does over the next month or two...

[jorgenswest]

5 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

The focus of his time at Driveline was to increase his velocity from 87 to 88?  Really?

Fastball speed is a good indicator but velocity down slightly also might point to changes in spin rate and even sharpness of location. It is unlikely everything else remained the same.

[mrtwinsfan]

6 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

The focus of his time at Driveline was to increase his velocity from 87 to 88?  Really?

Sorry but the article lost credibility with that statement, 87 to 88  Comical

[jimbo92107]

Dallas Kuechel is another veteran pitcher that gets outs with placement, spin and changing speeds. Like having a lefty Kenta Maeda. 

I don't mind that at all.

[Bodie]

4 hours ago, jimbo92107 said:

Dallas Kuechel is another veteran pitcher that gets outs with placement, spin and changing speeds. Like having a lefty Kenta Maeda. 

I don't mind that at all.

You may be correct.

Except for one small point: he really doesn't get enough outs any more!

He isn't on the 40 man roster, isn't really much of a threat to anyone on it, and might be a good example to the Saints' youngsters.  Not a bad "reach/reclamation project" signing.  If he shows signs of life, great!  If not, you can just sign next year's former star and try again.

It is not like signing some overhyped, one-dimensional "player" and handing him a roster spot for one productive at bat a week like, ... not to say Joey Gallo, but... Joey Gallo!