Special Delivery: Funky Delivery Secret To KJ Edson's Success

KJ Edson was only 13 years old. He was pitching in just run-of-the-mill Arcadia Pony Baseball League game at Bonita Park. Usually those two variables don’t coincide with a career-altering injury. Then again, there’s very little about KJ Edson’s career arc that can be described as normal or ordinary.

He can’t recall the specific pitch that broke his back, but he certainly can remember the debilitating feeling that shot through his body as he attempted to warm up the following inning.

“My back was starting to tighten up, and I couldn’t follow through all the way. It got worse and they took me out of the game,” Edson said. “A few days later, I couldn’t pitch again. I took two or three weeks off.”

X-rays revealed Edson had sustained a fracture to his back between his fifth and sixth vertebras – one that’s now permanent. He also an extra vertebra just to make the situation more precarious.

That might sound like devastating news for someone just entering his teen years – back injuries have derailed plenty of adult’s careers – but five years later Edson is able to look back and see the injury for what it truly was. Possibly the tipping point to his emergence as one of the most dominant pitchers in recent history at Arcadia High School.

Edson finished the 2011 regular season with a 10-1 record and a 0.56 ERA. Then in the playoffs, he pitched the Apaches to the semifinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 playoffs for the first time since 1987. Edson’s role as the catalyst of Apaches’ historic run this year earned him Arcadia Patch Spring Athlete of the Year honors.

Edson’s transformation into an unhittable pitching machine can be traced back to the beginning of his career at Arcadia when head coach Nick Lemas suggested Edson undergo a radical change on the mound. Because of his back injury, Edson struggled to increase his velocity with a traditional over-the-top delivery. After Edson’s freshman year, Lemas told him to drop his elbow and sidearm the ball.

“His natural arm angle was already like a three-quarter (delivery),” Lemas said. “He’s kind of lanky and really lose when he throws. … He pitched well as a freshman, but we knew he wasn’t going to throw super hard. So let’s try to drop it down.”

Edson originally hesitated to overhaul his pitching mechanics. The sidearm style, in which the ball’s release point is right around the hip, is a rarity even at the Major League level. It was only natural for him to wonder if this was the right move.

“I was kind of iffy at the beginning,” Edson said. “I didn’t know what to think. Not many people did it. Once I started to do it and had some success with it I was like, ‘Oh well I’m having success with it. Might as well stick with and see where it takes me.’ ”

Edson said he only gave up four or five runs his sophomore year on the Apaches’ junior varsity squad. But he admittedly was still raw as a pitcher. His mechanics weren’t as consistent as they could have been, and as a self-taught pitcher, he lacked the guidance to really hone his unique skill set.

Arcadia pitching coach Sean O’Leary entered at the right time in Edson’s development. O’Leary came to Arcadia before the start of Edson’s junior season, and he saw the potential in Edson’s funky motion if utilized properly.

“You could tell he had an idea of what he was trying to do,” O’Leary said. “But I don’t think he understood how different and how good he could be if he mastered that arm slot.” 

Under O’Leary’s watch, that’s exactly what Edson did. The first year on varsity he led the Apaches during the regular season with a 1.08 ERA. His senior year he dropped his arm even lower (he’s now a submarine pitcher) and posted a 0.56 ERA and finished the regular season riding a 31 2/3 scoreless inning streak as the Apaches went an undefeated 14-0 in the Pacific League for a second straight year.

For anyone who went to an Arcadia baseball game on a Friday night or watched the Apaches run in the CIF playoffs, watching Edson work on the mound was an experience unlike any other at the high school level.

The scene was the same again and again. Edson’s back hip would drop. His right shoulder would tip toward the turf. Then right when you thought he’d topple over, he’d slingshot the ball to a hitter who would hit a harmless groundout.

“It’s just devastating on right-handed hitters,” O’Leary said. “Running, cutting and dipping and diving.”

It wasn’t a rarity for opposing teams to stand in the field and gawk at Edson as he warmed up before games. Edson recalled that somewhere between five and 10 members of the Alemany baseball team studied his motion before the Apaches’ second round playoff game.

“It’s given me a huge advantage,” Edson said. “I wouldn’t have been this successful when I pitched the other way. It’s really helped out a lot. You don’t see many high schoolers throw the way I do. It gives you an advantage because I know colleges look for that.” 

They certainly noticed, and Edson will play baseball at the University of La Verne next year where he expects to see plenty of playing time either as a starter or out of the bullpen.

For a pitcher with a broken back and a fastball that tops out in the low 80s, that wouldn’t be a bad end point. But O’Leary said Edson had the talent to pitch at a Division I school, and he’s adamant that Edson could go even further if given the opportunity.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he could pitch in the big leagues one day,” O’Leary said. “I think that his stuff wise is comparable to anyone in the Valley.”