Pablo López is off to a great begin in his first season with the Twins. Acquired by Minnesota from Miami because the centerpiece of an offseason deal that despatched defending American League batting champion Luis Arraez to the Marlins, the 27-year-old right-hander has a 1.73 ERA and a 2.70 FIP over 26 innings. Moreover, he’s fanned 33 whereas surrendering simply 15 hits and issuing six walks.

Trading in his cutter for a sweeper has performed an element in that success. López has thrown his new providing 82 occasions — all in opposition to same-sided hitters — over 4 begins, and solely twice has the end result been a base hit. His Whiff% on the pitch is an eye-opening 50%.

The repertoire tweak was made on the behest of López’s new group, however the thought of a sweeper preceded his arrival.

“I first got the concept at Driveline in the offseason,” defined López, who logged a 3.75 ERA in a career-high 180 innings final yr with Miami. “But I was only there for a short visit, so I couldn’t really capitalize on the concept of it. Then, in spring training, it was brought up again. From there we sat down and worked on it.”

The Twins wasted little time in suggesting the cutter-to-sweeper conversion. Which isn’t to say they knew precisely what the tip end result would seem like.

“It was an introductory sit-down meeting where we talk about player goals,” defined Minnesota pitching coach Pete Maki. “One of the ‘stuff’ goals was to get more of a left turn on his cutter, which wasn’t really too different from his four-seam fastball. The cutter performance hadn’t been awesome [a .321 BA and .696 SLG last year]. Did we know it was going to be a ‘sweeper’? No. But some of his release characteristics lend themselves to some seam effects with a slider.”

López was absolutely on board with the thought, though very like Maki, he wasn’t certain what the pitch would in the end flip into. To a point, he’s nonetheless not sure. Not solely is he nonetheless doing a little fine-tuning, he admits to calling the brand new weapon a “sweeper” largely as a result of it’s the time period that was introduced to him. Maki isn’t far faraway from the identical line of considering.

“Some people call it a sweeper,” the pitching coach advised me. “David Cone didn’t call it a sweeper. Dave Stieb didn’t call it a sweeper. José Berríos has a sweepy breaking ball that he holds similarly to a lot of the guys you see with a ton of sweep. Sweepers have been around forever, it’s just that now we know what leads to one. You can game for it.”

López isn’t on the lookout for an excessive quantity of sweep. He at present will get between 9 and 15 inches — therefore the continued fine-tuning — and to his thoughts, 10-11 inches can be splendid. Consistency can be a purpose. Knowing how a lot the pitch will break would higher permit him to visualise each the beginning and finish factors. Preferring shorter to longer is all about deception.

“If it’s too big, it’s too humpy,” stated López. “It’s like with people who throw curveballs. You’ve heard ‘hump’ — like it’s easier to recognize — whereas the ones that come out like a fastball and then go down are what you want. The sweeper is the same thing. You want it to look like a fastball and then take a turn. That’s why I’m trying to finesse that release window, to find that sweet spot.”

The preliminary phases of growing the pitch got here pretty simply. As López defined, and as Maki was absolutely conscious, the righty’s arm slot is conducive to throwing a ball that strikes east to west.

“There are guys who are over the top and have those bangers, those nasty curveballs, and then there are lower-slot guys like me where getting horizontal movement is a little easier,” stated Lopez. “And now with all the resources we have, like the slow-motion cameras that show your hand positioning at release, it’s easier to know who is more suitable for horizontal movement rather than vertical.”

López feels that ready for Maki to make the suggestion labored to his benefit. Had he tried studying a sweeper over the offseason — this after the Driveline bullpen session that planted the seed — he wouldn’t have had the hands-on instruction he discovered to be invaluable. The setting was splendid for an additional motive. As López put it, “In spring training, all we do is throw baseballs.”

What would have occurred had the better-than-ever hurler not been traded to Minnesota, however quite remained in Miami? Would he have realized a sweeper?

“Maybe,” López stated in response to that query, a pregnant pause previous his reply. “It’s hard to tell, because I don’t know what their plan would have been for me trying to get something that went glove side. I’m sure they would have asked me, and I would have said the same thing — I got the concept at Driveline — and maybe we’d have gone to work. But it’s hard to know.”

What López does know is that turning a not-so-good cutter right into a sweeper — if that’s what you care to name it — has made him a greater pitcher. Right from the beginning, he had an inkling that it might.

“When I heard it for the second time, I thought, ‘This must be a good pathway to something,’ said López. “Hearing it from Driveline, and then from the Twins, I figured that it could be good. I worked on it, and that’s what happened.”

Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com