Kyle Gibson was the centerpiece of the now-defunct Saber-Scouting article on some of the pitchers to look forward to in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft.

Their notes:

Notes - Not a pitcher at this stage, more of a thrower. Projection is key. Needs to get stronger. Natural movement keeps him away from the middle of the plate. Doesn’t look like a natural athlete, awkward fielding his position. Likes to work insider. Easy delivery appears to lull hitters and makes his fastball more effective.

From this video, I was able to capture some images to look at in slow motion. What jumped out at me from the article was this line:

Overall Comparison: John Lackey (a thinner-framed version)

John Lackey is huge - he looks like a linebacker more than he does a starting pitcher, so naturally most pitchers would have to be "thinner-framed." Regardless, I have been a big fan of Lackey's (despite being an A's fan) for a long time now, as he was underappreciated for years while Bartolo Colon was the perceived "ace" of the Angels rotation and therefore I was able to nab him in late rounds of fantasy baseball drafts everywhere! Unfortunately, I had him again this year, and the litany of injuries he suffered didn't help me out too much, even if he did recover and pitch well down the stretch.

So, let's compare John Lackey to Kyle Gibson and see if the comparisons hold water, shall we?

Here's some video of Lackey when he tossed a near no-hitter on July 29th, 2008 (Pedroia broke it up):

Lackey is 19-20 frames from maximal leg lift to footplant, which is great. His arm action is smooth and he does not reverse rotate too much (very minimal). When Lackey's shoulders begin to turn, his arm is nearly vertical, which is good. He also features an early hand break with the hands low near his belt, which I also like. The scapular load you see in his delivery is not forced; rather, it is passively-induced as he aggressively clears his hips and turns his torso. He rotates his glove high into his frontside and has smooth deceleration of the arm. The only thing I don't like is his curveball, which is probably thrown with a supinated release. Otherwise, Lackey's mechanics point to a successful and relatively injury-free career, which is exactly what we've seen out of him so far.

Lackey did suffer from a strained right triceps which kept him out of commission for six weeks of the 2008 season, which is a common precursor to pitchers who need Ulnar Collateral Ligament replacement surgery (better known as Tommy John surgery). The reason for this is probably due to his supinated curveball release.

Saber-Scouting also talked about Kyle Gibson's mechanics, so before we take a look at his video, let's review them:

Mechanics - Smooth, easy arm action, shouldn’t have serious arm problems. Very little effort. Has a pause in his delivery just before his release, allows his arm to catch up. Drifts out over the rubber, weight leaks forwards, costs him a few ticks of his velocity. Doesn’t drive with his legs, relies on his fast arm. Throws over the top, creating good downward action. No windup.

"No windup" doesn't seem to be true, since the video I posted clearly shows him throwing out of the windup in multiple instances.

The two portions of this writeup that don't make sense are: "Doesn't drive with his legs, relies on his fast arm" and "Shouldn't have serious arm problems." The first portion suggests a major mechanical problem that would lead to the antithesis of the second portion.

With all that in mind, let's take a look, Driveline Mechanics style:

Firstly, his performance-based mechanics are something I'd like to address. Yes, I know, here at Driveline Mechanics we don't typically talk about stuff like this, but that applies to professional pitchers only. Amateur pitchers often have work they can do to improve both their velocity and control.

Tempo: Kyle Gibson is 27-28 frames from maximal leg lift to footplant. This is just ridiculous. Take a look at this part of his leg lift and stride:

What does this help us achieve? Nothing. It is wasted motion. He picks up his leg and puts it right back down with minimal weight transfer and increase in momentum towards home plate.

Arm Action: It starts off okay but rapidly deteriorates. Gibson has the classic problem of "arm drag" and looks very similar to Paul Nyman-taught pitchers who drag the arm and forcibly take the arm behind the acromial line in horizontal abduction (so-called "scap load"). There's no wonder the guys at Saber-Scouting liked Kyle Gibson - they are both Nyman disciples (as was Carlos Gomez, the writer for The Hardball Times who is now a scout with the Diamondbacks).

Take a look at this video:

Yikes, that is bad. Doesn't that just look painful? See how his elbow comes near a position of hyperabduction, then slides down? It would not surprise me to hear that Kyle Gibson has suffered from anterior shoulder pains in his lifetime as a pitcher.

If there's one thing to like about him, it's his finish:

I'd actually prefer to see greater shoulder turn to help decelerate his pitching arm (as well as a better pronated release), but he seems to use the glove arm well.

Overall, I really dislike Kyle Gibson's mechanics from both a longevity and performance standpoint. I guess it's not surprising that he has an arm action like this; Aaron Crow was his teammate at Mizzou and his mechanics are simply godawful. I know I've talked about him already, but just look at this:

Really?

Anyway, my greater point is that no one naturally learns how to throw a baseball this way - in almost all pitchers of this type, they are taught these types of flawed and injurious arm actions by coaches.

Everyone on the Internet seems to think that Kyle Gibson's delivery is effortless and smooth but also say that he doesn't use his legs to drive. Do people really not think these things through? If the first part is true, the second part necessarily is false. If he doesn't use his whole body to generate force up and through the kinetic chain, there is a ton of effort in one segment of his body producing all the velocity.

Last, but not least, in no way does Kyle Gibson remind me of John Lackey. Lackey has a much different build, has way better mechanics, and throws harder (Gibson is at 88-90 while Lackey's average fastball is 92).

Anyway, thanks for reader UribeAuction for requesting this analysis - I had fun with it and I consider it a great example of what not to do in the Arm Action and Tempo portions of the delivery.