Thursday Twins: Analytics and mentors

Happy Thursday everybody! Here are your links, enjoy!

• The North Score over at the Strib looked into why Jake Odorizzi is likely to throw high fastballs. I have to wonder how some of the old-school guys on that sports desk reacted to the new analytics guy.
• In case you haven’t read enough about shortstops lately, Mike Berardino wrote about Nick Gordon and Erick Aybar. The Gordon stuff is interesting, but the thing that really caught my eye is that Aybar was apparently brought in partially due to his leadership among younger, Latino players; he shares an agency with Miguel Sano; and has become a bit of a mentor to the Twins third baseman. Hopefully it pays off.
• Kyle Gibson talked about his role as the 5th starter, and what he thinks he needs to do to be successful.
• Jamie Cameron, at Twins Daily, did some very nice analysis on why Ryan Pressly has been inconsistent and not always successful, despite have very good stuff on paper. This is a make-or-break year for Pressly, so hopefully he and the Twins have discovered the same information, and are acting on it.
• With the Twins and Indians slated to play a two-game series at Hiram Bithorn stadium in Puerto Rico, and several Puerto Rican players on the roster, this piece from Baseball America caught my attention. It’s not directly related to the Twins, but a great look at the recovery of baseball on the Hurricane-ravaged island.

Your soundtrack today is something a little different. Instead of a classic, lets go with a guy who you probably don’t know, but should.