The mission for Jake Odorizzi today, if he chooses to accept it, is to command his fastball better and throw more strikes. Then, his array of pitches will come into play.
It's 15 starts into Odorizzi's Twins career, and we haven't seen his best yet. And he's sounded frustrated that we haven't seen it. Especially in recent starts. Odorizzi hasn't pitched at least six innings since May 14 at Seattle, which is unacceptable for a starter with his experience and talent.
"I think as of late, he's probably a little frustrated," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We're trying to find ways (for him) to become more efficient so we're not burning up pitches as fast as we have been with him in the past several starts, really. And just looking for ways to get a little bit deeper."
Odorizzi has the stuff - his two fastballs, slider, curve and split-finger change up - to be hard to figure out when he's on. But he's struggled to get the feel for all of his pitches. You can tell in the early innings that he seems to be searching for what is working that day. All pitchers go through it, but it seems to be every-fifth-day challenge for him.
"Just trying to have a little bit better feel for all of his pitches from inning one where he doesn't have to battle and burn up pitches and the next thing you know we are looking at five innings maximum," Molitor said. "If he is commanding his fastball it is going to set up everything and hopefully he starts to get some quicker outs."
Odorizzi is 4-0 with a 2.02 ERA in his career against Texas, perhaps the right team at the right time for him to face.
In other news:
Byron Buxton belted a three-run homer last night for Class AAA Rochester. Even more interesting is that he's using a leg kick again. It's not as big as the one he tried out a couple years ago, but it's back. It will be interesting to see how that works when he gets back up here. Many hitters get rid of leg kicks once they reach the majors.
