Dylan Moser
Outfielder, Indy Ball
Dylan Moser had a long way to go when he first came to Driveline after his freshman year at Milwaukee Area Technical College in the summer of 2018. He weighed about 170 pounds, and the way he describes it, his swing looked like he was underwater.
But he showed up in Washington with the intention to work his tail off, already completely bought into the message he had seen Jason Ochart and the rest of the Driveline crew putting out there online.
“I had swing flaws, I had bat speed issues,” Moser said. “I was not strong enough. I kind of had wholesale issues. The only thing I really had going for me was that I was willing to just go for it. Whatever they wanted me to do, I was going to be in.”
The most pressing diagnosis Driveline gave to Moser was that he was nowhere near strong enough or heavy enough to accomplish the things he was hoping to accomplish in the game.
“There’s not a lot of guys in the Big Leagues that weigh 177 pounds,” said Daniel Comstock, Driveline’s Director of High Performance, remembering his first message to Moser.
The average weight of the professional hitters who have trained at Driveline is 208 pounds. Moser was more than 30 pounds lighter than that, and needed to close that gap quickly. Comstock put together a plan and the pair got to work making Moser bigger and stronger.
The prescription was a lower rep, higher set program with above average rest between sets that would allow Moser to move a little more weight during his workouts. With a normal amount of rest during, say, a four-set, 10-rep bench press workout, you end up being able to move about 60-70 percent of your max by the end. With a bit more time between sets, that number is more like 80-90 percent of your max. That added weight promotes bulking.
Then there was the work outside of the gym: eating. Moser upped his calorie intake, putting away more than 4,000 of them every day in the form of a lot of ribeyes, smoothies, rice, and eggs.
Sound fun to eat as much as you can every day and not feel guilty about it? Not so much.
Moser has the help of a nutritionist now as well, who has guided his diet in a smarter way. His work with the spoon and fork is another example of how Moser is determined to use whatever tools at his disposal to reach his goals.
The efforts with the High Performance team have started to produce results, too. Back in 2020, Moser tested in the 74th percentile in its overall strength metric – a combination of isometric mid-thigh pull, squat jump peak power, and body weight. In his most recent retest, Moser was in the 90th percentile.
In Moser’s most recent eight-week training block alone, he gained 300 Newtons of force in the isometric mid-thigh pull (the average athlete might expect to gain 250). He also gained 13 pounds of body weight during that session, while Comstock says he typically sees athletes gain about two pounds.
That weight gain translation? Way more predicted bat speed, which Driveline calculates through strength tests and body weight assessments. When Moser started his most recent training block, he was at 67 mph of predictive bat speed. Now, he’s up to 70.6 mph.
That 3.6 mph jump is typical over an entire offseason. Moser got it done in eight weeks. Outside of predictive analysis, he has seen his max exit velocity jump from 90.4 mph during his first test to 107.5 mph during his most recent test.
The competitive environment Driveline creates within the facility kept Moser hungry throughout that training block – even with those 4,000 calories every day.