I speculated that that might have been an accommodation for his new kick-change, an extra wrinkle in his already-strong pitch mix. López, however, says the cause and effect there was reversed.

“It helps now, but when I thought about shifting to the third-base side, I didn’t even have in my mind throwing the kick-change or anything,” López said Sunday, standing on the top step of the Twins dugout at Target Field and watching his teammates take batting practice. “But I did have in mind, because my changeup runs so much, if I’m now shading more to the third-base side, I can’t start it in front of me, because it’s gonna be a non-competitive miss. So it did go along with the changeup, like, I just have to be a little more thorough thinking where I have to aim a little bit, so the movement always brings it back to the plate.”

In other words, the veteran righthander committed to sliding over before introducing a new offering into his impressive arsenal.

Adding the kick-change was a way to ensure he would have an offspeed pitch he can keep on the plate, in certain situations, despite being in a new spot and knowing that his traditional changeup would then run off the dish away from a lefty.

Rather than being geared toward the addition of a new pitch, then, López’s new position was a result of holistic considerations about how to attack hitters.

“Deception,” he said, to sum up his initial motivation for the move. “Trade a little bit more angle, coming in to the lefties, and be more on top of righties—which, you do hear from righties, when they feel that pitcher being on top of them, makes it a little more uncomfortable. It allowed my breaking balls—both my sweeper and the curveball, they tend to move a little down but also to my glove side, so it keeps them in the zone longer before they break.”

That was the thought, but it didn’t happen overnight. López said he hadn’t worked anywhere but the first-base side of the rubber since he was pitching in High A in 2017.

Back then, since he didn’t yet have a consistent breaking ball and was very dependent on his changeup, he quickly retreated back after testing out the third-base side. This spring, that was where he began his experimenting anew.

“I actually—in spring training, I tested and tried being all the way to the third-base side. I found that to be a little drastic, but I gave it a shot,” he said. “And then obviously, you’ve gotta start paying attention to your misses. So I started missing toward my arm side, which made sense, because I had transitioned, maybe like 12 inches. So slowly, like, ‘Ok, let me move back a couple inches,’ so the misses got smaller and smaller, up until the point that I’m able to reduce the amount of misses, while still making somewhat of a shift.”

The place where he’s landed—more or less in the middle of the mound—is not one where a pitcher is likely to automatically go.

Hurlers think in terms of giving batters extreme looks, and being in the middle of the rubber has a bit of a no-man’s land vibe.

López acknowledged that he does have to modify his own cues for how to release the ball, based on his targets, given that the angle from his release point to that target has subtly but importantly changed.

“[I’m being] conscious in the sense of, I’m not as tuned to my glove side as I was last year. So I do have to be a little more intentional, when it’s time to expand, just be like, ok, when I want to expand, I have to either feel that I’m releasing more in front of me, or when I’m just trying to throw to my arm side, I’m already shifted more there, so I don’t have to think too much about it,” he put it. “So those are things that I’m still keeping in mind in bullpens, and in games, because I want to make competitive pitches, putaway pitches: get ahead, stay ahead. So there is a level of staying focused and concentrated when I’m executing.”

Unfortunately, of course, all of these tweaks are on hold for the time being.

As he spoke Sunday, he was still carrying his glove, and the rubber hose used for flexibility exercises was draped across his neck.

He’s on the injured list with a strained right hamstring, but his daily work and approach reflect the shared hope of team and player for a rapid return.

López can’t further perfect his altered angle or his updated pitch mix right now, but he’s still very much engaged, and seems eager to continue attacking hitters from his new spot as soon as his body allows.