Pablo López's Pursuit of the Next Level Has No Offseason

This year, there weren’t many notable individual accomplishments in the Twins’ postseason run. But undoubtedly, one of the shining achievements was staff ace Pablo López emerging as a true frontline starter on a national stage. 

In his two starts, the 27-year-old righty totaled 12 ⅔ innings pitched with 10 strikeouts and three walks, giving up just one earned run while he led his team to two massive wins. We’re talking about a tiny sample size with just two games, but these performances came after the best season of López’s career. He had a career-high in innings pitched (194), strikeout percentage (29.2%), and fWAR (4.5) in his first year with the Twins and named as a finalist for this year’s Gold Glove award among pitchers. 

When asked about his first season with the Twins organization at various post-game appearances throughout the year, López lauded the information he received from the club’s baseball operations department, especially as it pertained to building and developing a sweeper. 

“The Minnesota Twins are willing to provide us with every single resource, every single opportunity to get better as a player,” he said in a press conference in late April after signing a four-year extension with the club. “In spring training, the first thing we did was sit in a room for three days straight to really get to know my identity. Then it was finding out what that next gear is that we can find.”

López and the Twins indeed found that next gear, and it led him to an All-Star selection and his team to their first playoff win in nearly two decades. But with that memorable season in the rearview mirror, he is already gearing up for 2024. 

López was recently spotted at Driveline’s facility and underwent a thorough assessment. For those who don’t know, Driveline is a data-driven development program that has been successful for countless major leaguers, especially pitchers. Their research has a reputation for helping pitchers gain strength and velocity, using state-of-the-art tools to train and develop their clients. 

Driveline isn’t new to López, or the Twins, for that matter. The righty also visited their facility before the start of this season. But now that he’s shown considerable progress in a career year, López, the staff at Driveline, and the Twins’ training staff can access even more data as they determine what clicked for him in 2023. The goal would be to maintain that success while finding that next gear, as López said. 

So, what does that next level look like? López was above average in most areas in 2023, so where could he find significant improvement?

While his four-seam fastball was still a great option in his repertoire, it got hit harder than his sweeper, changeup, and even his curveball. Opponents hit .268 on that offering, with a rather-high .468 slugging percentage. Now, there is a lot of nuance as to why that could be, and more brilliant minds would better diagnose any hypothetical issue with the pitch. But adding more velocity to his heater (which averaged a respectable 94.9 MPH in 2023) could be that marginal improvement that pays dividends in the future. It could be that extra gear that helps López continue climbing that hill. And Driveline can help him figure out when and how to switch gears as he makes his ascent. 

That next level could mean a new high-water mark for innings pitched if he can stay healthy as he did this season. It could mean even more strikeouts if he can get his fastball to play up or add a few ticks of velocity. It could mean even further development of his sweeper, which he used to get a swing-and-miss 36.6% of the time. Those could lead to additional accolades for López, whether that means getting the starting nod on Opening Day, another All-Star selection, or even Cy Young award consideration.

But if you ask López what that next level is, he almost certainly would talk about what it would mean for his team. That means more postseason appearances and even further success.

“I just want to go out there and give the team the best chance to win,” he said in an in-game interview during his gem of a start in Game 2 versus the Astros. “It’s the preparation, routine, and discipline that gets you here.”

What do you think? What does Pablo López’s next level look like? How do you think he gets there? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below, and as always, keep it sweet.