When Twins fans last saw Jake Odorizzi, he was the most motivated pitcher in baseball, an All-Star righthander who deferred his first multiyear contract for an extra 12 months in hopes of compounding its value. Who gambled, say, a guaranteed $40 million payoff in order to entice perhaps one twice as big, on the strength of a bravura 2020 encore.
Then the world changed.
But Odorizzi says his outlook hasn't.
"I'm happy with everything I did this last offseason, the decisions I made," said Odorizzi, who posted a career-best 3.51 ERA and 15-7 record in 2019 as he headed into free agency. "I wouldn't change them today, as I wouldn't change them back then."
What really hasn't changed, Odorizzi said, is his own preparation for this pivotal season. When spring training closed March 12, he figured he was only one or two starts away from regular-season form, his mechanics developed and perfected amid near secrecy on the backfields of the Twins' campus.
With no idea how long the interruption would last, Odorizzi simply moved that project north to his Tampa home, and east to the Florida Baseball Ranch in Lakeland, determined to take no backward steps in his training. He played catch six days a week with Twins teammate Tyler Clippard to keep his arm strong. He threw off a mound to a catcher every Monday to tweak his control. And every Thursday, he drove to Lakeland to simulate, as best he could, trying to retire Royals and Tigers and Yankees, all while having FBR's technology track every twitch and pitch.
"I did 60-pitch 'games' once a week. I had TrackMan data and all the stuff I use during the offseason," Odorizzi said. "Only Clip, myself and a trainer, so we didn't have to worry about being overcrowded. Everything was set up good for keeping a distance from everybody else, but still being able to do my normal stuff."
The result? Odorizzi made a distinctly positive impression on the first batter he faced during his first Target Field workout on Saturday.