Souhan: Do the Twins roll with the changes or roll their eyes at analytics in 2025?

FORT MYERS, FLA. — In baseball, the term “analytics” conjures images of supercomputers spewing terabytes of data that are forwarded from analysts to the field staff and eventually to the players, who shrug and mutter: “See ball, hit ball.”

What’s the reality for Twins players in 2025?

Do they roll with the changes or roll their eyes?

Michael Tonkin is one of the few current Twins who played for previous regimes. The righthander has been managed by the old-school Ron Gardenhire and Paul Molitor, and by the analytics-embracing Rocco Baldelli. Tonkin has also played for the Braves, Mets and Yankees.

“I think the organization’s definitely changed, but the game of baseball as a whole has changed,” he said. “So if the Twins didn’t change, I think it would be a problem. The organization is more progressive when it comes to analytics and data. If you want to survive, you’ve got to buy into this stuff. It helped me understand just what I can do to get an out.”

Tonkin throws a sinker. Conventional wisdom holds that sinkerball pitchers must throw the ball low in the strike zone. He found, with help from analytics, that his pitches can work well at the top of the strike zone.

“In the past, I would get swinging strikes at the top of the zone, and they’d be like, `You can’t do that,’” Tonkin said. “My eyes are telling me I can, but traditional beliefs say I can’t. Now I know that I can.”

Tonkin said the current Twins regime is more likely to educate than issue orders. “Baseball as a whole is a little more laid back,” he said. “I think a lot of that stuff — how you dress, how early you show up — doesn’t help you win ballgames.”

One of the reasons former Twins reliever Ryan Pressly thrived in Houston was the Astros’ willingness to let him pitch up in the zone, where the Twins wanted him to keep the ball down.

The Twins’ previous regimes also had plenty of success stories, including teaching Johan Santana the changeup that made him a star.

Reliever Brock Stewart has pitched for the Dodgers, Blue Jays and Twins. He said the Twins have encouraged him to throw changeups to lefthanded hitters and use his cut fastball on both sides of the plate.

“That’s helped me a ton,” Stewart said. “It’s just kind of reassuring. I think that helps me stay locked in and trust my stuff, knowing throwing those pitches in the zone as much as possible is going to get results.

“I didn’t always take full advantage of analytics. You had to seek it out. The Twins, they share it with you, and they share their thoughts and their opinions on how those analytics can make you better.”

Bailey Ober is one of this regime’s success stories — a 12th-round draft pick who was thought to lack dominant stuff. Now he might be the Twins’ No. 2 starter.

“We’re looking at hitters’ strengths and weaknesses compared to my strengths and weaknesses,” Ober said. “If you need someone to help you break down the data, we have great resources here with the Twins. I feel like analytics is huge in player development.”

In addition to information he receives from the Twins, Ober watches film and keeps a notebook on opposing hitters.

Baldelli played and worked for the Tampa Bay Rays, a team renowned for its analytics, before the Twins hired him.

“We can have traditionalist debates, but the game is just different than it was for the first century it was played,” Baldelli said. “The adjustment-making that these guys partake in on a regular basis is pretty amazing, and it makes the game different, and challenging.

“But it’s still a player’s game. Putting the player in the best position is the staff’s job, and the manager’s job. I don’t think analytics make the game more difficult or multifaceted or more complicated. Anything they’re being asked to do should be as simple as it ever was, if you’re doing it right.”