"The Gang Goes To Driveline"

[Cody Pirkl]

A pair of Twins pitchers ventured outside the organization this winter for their offseason training. Now that we’re finding out a bit more of what they’d been working on, what could it mean for 2023?

Image courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Driveline Baseball has become something of a household name in baseball circles in recent years, as it’s extended its reach from youth baseball to the MLB level. Using the newest technology and data available in the baseball world, Driveline has its fair share of success stories among professional pitchers. In 2023, Joe Ryan and Tyler Mahle are looking to become the newest names added to the list.

Mahle and Ryan likely had very different goals in mind this offseason and each opted to take them to the pitching labs of Driveline Baseball. We often hear little about what specifically pitchers are working on during their offseason routine, but given the reputation of Driveline and the details that we’ve received, this news should be exciting to Twins fans.

Tyler Mahle
The first thought when hearing his name tied to Driveline was a recovery plan for whatever shoulder ailment ended his 2022 season. Instead, Mahle went about his business as usual this offseason, looking to make tweaks to his repertoire. Even when healthy last season, he seemed to be missing just a small piece of the puzzle.

Mahle opted to revamp his slider after the 2022 season. He has what’s classified as a slider and a cutter, though it’s fair to wonder whether both are the same pitch that classify differently at times, as the “slider” averaged a bit less velocity than the “cutter”. At any rate, these were his two worst pitches by most measures. Expected Batting Average and Slugging were markedly worse than his fastball and splitter for these two pitches, and it showed up in his platoon splits. 

Right-handed hitters put up an OPS of .784 against the right-handed Mahle, much worse than the .602 mark against left-handed hitters. It was clear he lacked an equalizer against same-handed hitters.

From the little we can see, Mahle has added more horizontal break to his slider and less vertical break. It appears to be a new look breaking ball, which is a welcome change based on how the previous one had difficulties equalizing right-handed hitters. For how well he’s performed against left-handed hitters in his career, if he can find any kind of similar success against righties, he could become a certified stud.

Joe Ryan
After being able to dominate the minors with mostly a fastball, the Twins tried to incorporate a slider to better equip Joe Ryan to start in the MLB. On the season, Ryan allowed just one less homer on the slider than he did his fastball, though he threw the slider roughly a third as much. Ryan seemed to find something to end the season, as the pitch was dominant in September by many measures including Expected Slugging and Batting Average, hard hit % etc. Ryan took that momentum to Driveline as well this winter.

For Ryan, further developing another pitch is a must. His fastball remained fantastic despite being used over 60% of the time, which means any kind of plus secondary offering would raise Ryan’s game to new heights. With the foundation he and the Twins built on the breaking ball, it’s exciting to think about what an offseason at Driveline could do for the pitch.

Ryan had more than one pitch in mind this winter. Unlike Mahle, Ryan is significantly better against same-handed hitters. His strikeouts markedly drop off, suggesting a need for a good matchup pitch for left-handed hitters. Because of this, Ryan worked on a split changeup this winter as well.

Of note, this is the same pitch that has been Tyler Mahle’s bread and butter secondary, and is a big reason for the lack of platoon splits in his career. Traditionally the pitch is a little faster and has more late life than the plain old changeup. This makes it a bit tougher to pick up by opposite handed hitters who typically have a better look at what’s coming from the pitcher. While it’s tough to say what to expect from Ryan debuting an entirely new pitch, it’s easy to look at the changeup he used just 12% of the time in 2022 and see room for improvement.

Tyler Mahle and Joe Ryan have high end upside. Both have good foundations in their repertoire, Ryan with his magical fastball and Mahle with his uncommon ability to negate platoon splits. It sounds like both went in search of the missing pieces this winter at Driveline, and it’ll be interesting to see how the new pitches look. There’s a possibility that both pitchers raise their games to new levels.

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[Karbo]

I sure hope Mahle stays healthy this year. Would like to see Twins extend him.

[Cory Engelhardt]

1 minute ago, Karbo said:

I sure hope Mahle stays healthy this year. Would like to see Twins extend him.

2nd’d on this

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Interesting article Cody. Thank you.

[miracleb]

If Mahle gets in over 130 innings this year, it will be hard for the Twins to NOT win the division in MHO.

[Blyleven2011]

It's good to see some players are aware and serious that they need to fine tune there repertoire and get advice from other professionals ( other than our coaching )   that might impact their game  ...

[Rod Carews Birthday]

This is indeed encouraging for both of these pitchers.  I am especially excited by Ryan continuing to develop (on the fly, in the majors!) into a better and better pitcher.  He kind of strikes (pun intended) me as being particularly cerebral about his pitching, so I agree, with more pitches to go with his crazy good/deceptive fastball, he becomes a stud!

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Pitching will be the key to the Twins success this season. 

[sun]

Maybe Driveline improvements are one of the reasons why Rocco has vowed to let the starters pitch deeper into games this year.

Rocco Wants Starters to Pitch Deeper and Carry Twins in 2023

https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/rocco-baldelli-starters-carry-twins/?fbclid=IwAR0beRzsGZ_0nrbHeIq_R6YhTxI8m6VbLEhzHrxQ2_pqF5zmfmhl1JxBPCA

[MN_ExPat]

58 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

This is indeed encouraging for both of these pitchers.  I am especially excited by Ryan continuing to develop (on the fly, in the majors!) into a better and better pitcher.  He kind of strikes (pun intended) me as being particularly cerebral about his pitching, so I agree, with more pitches to go with his crazy good/deceptive fastball, he becomes a stud!

I concur.  The movement and life on that split change was filthy 🤒😷 in that clip. 

I feel dirty just watching it... 

[jmlease1]

I love Joe Ryan. He's my favorite Twins starter to watch, and if that split-change is working for him, then he's going to be even more fun this season. Ryan's got the mentality you want out there: fearless but smart. That fastball is really good, with that extra bit of deception on it. It's sort of what they used to call a "Positive" Fastball, because every hitter is positive they can hit it. (The old Jim Palmer bit)

Mahle's shoulder issues are a weird one. There's nothing showing up structurally, so he should be fine...but obviously he wasn't at the end of the year for the Twins. Hopefully a normal offseason addresses that and he can focus on sharpening up that slider and making it a consistent weapon. I appreciate how direct he's been about where some of his pitches were last year. That tells me he knows what he needs to do to improve, and the time at Driveline shows he's putting in the work even when it's not on the team's nickel.

Hope it works! I mean, a guy coming in to camp talking about the new/improved pitch they have is sort of the equivalent of "best shape of their life" on the cliché meter, but things become clichés in part because they're true as well... 

[Ricky Vaughn]

Nice article. I knew Mahle had been to Driveline but not Ryan. Hopefully the extra work pays off for them.

[ashbury]

4 hours ago, MN_ExPat said:

I concur.  The movement and life on that split change was filthy 🤒😷 in that clip. 

I feel dirty just watching it... 

I wonder if it's got so much movement that batters will be more able to recognize the pitch and lay off it?

[NotAboutWinning]

Great to see these guys “hungry” to develop! Bodes very well for the quality of the starting rotation!

[jimbo92107]

15 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Pitching will be the key to the Twins success this season. 

Winning is sixty percent pitching, and 80% mental. If you can convince the scorekeeper that you're winning, you have a built-in advantage.

[MN_ExPat]

17 hours ago, ashbury said:

I wonder if it's got so much movement that batters will be more able to recognize the pitch and lay off it?

Possibly...

But at that point it becomes as much a matter of sequencing and changing the batters "eye level" by making him take another offering into account.  Especially if they are keyed on the FB.  Thrown in that type of situation, a hitter is going to look like a human Ice Augur.

2 - 0 Change Ups are why I have trust issues...  

[mac098]

It is really nice to see young pitchers care about themselves and the team. Yes this helps the team as they develop better pitches and better mechanics. It shows everyone that our young pitchers are hungry and want to succeed. Joe Ryan reminds of Jake Odorizzi the first year we had him. Nothing overpowering, he just knows how to pitch and where to throw those pitches. If he can continue to work on the that slider and the split-change I think we'll see a very good #2/3 for many years to come. Just watching that video I was able to pick out that the release point was within a few inches of each other and that is going to look deceptive to a batter, regardless of which side of the plate they hit from. BUT he is going to have to establish that fastball early in the game to set up those other pitches. 

Mahle, if he can play with either of those sliders (the vertical break and the horizontal break) depending on the handedness of the batter, I think we just found our future #1. He's been shown he's lights out against lefty's but as was stated in article, he's struggled against righty's. I foresee solid things from both of these young men this coming year.

[milkytoast]

You didn't talk about Jax at all. He went to Driveline too.