This is Where Pablo Lopez was Supposed To Be

[John Bonnes]

When the Twins acquired Pablo Lopez this off-season, this was the exact kind of start they envisioned him making.

It was a steep price for them to part with Luis Arreaz. After all, Arraez became a fan favorite and an excellent contact hitter. Batting Title Kings/ Short Kings get traded less often. Early in the season, many fans lamented missing out on that type of hitter, but it's hard to disagree that the Twins had a plan when they acquired Lopez from the Miami Marlins. 

He said so himself.

"I'm extremely grateful for all the resources the Twins made available when it came to pitch developing and understanding the benefits behind why a pitch moving in that direction could give us the options we were looking for," Lopez told reporters after his final regular-season start. The right-hander said the organization gave him stats, facts, numbers, and information. These were very appreciated and embraced.  

The Twins have a system that has grown quite good at identifying, building, and developing pitchers. Lopez was already a reasonably outstanding pitcher from outside of the organization. He was worth about two wins each season with Miami. The Twins, however, were able to tap into more. 

Lopez said that with Miami, he concentrated on being a north-south pitcher, focusing on his fastball up in the zone, pairing it with his excellent changeup, and breaking ball down in the zone. The Twins offered a different path for Lopez - they saw he could be more of an east-west pitcher, getting hitters to chase on pitches running away from the strike zone.

The Twins could take what was an outstanding pitcher and build on it.

Let's start with the mechanics. Returning to Lopez's statement about deviating from being a north-south pitcher, we can see how he's altered his delivery to help add more east-west movement. 

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