Twins POBO Derek Falvey explains importance of analytics in spring training

Things are getting down to the nitty-gritty in spring training as teams start finalizing their rosters for opening day. Spring training is a time for evaluation, but it’s also a time to work on some things.

Minnesota Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey explained why you have to look deeper than the stat line in spring training while appearing on the Audacy original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” this week.

“You try not to overreact. You know the talent of these guys,” Falvey said (15:45 in player above). “You’re just trying to get ‘em ready for when the lights turn on and the season’s going.”

Falvey acknowledged that players can have a great spring training and then fizzle out when the season starts. There’s also the flip side of that where someone can’t quite find it in spring training and then ramps up when it’s go time.

While stats are important in spring training, it’s more than that for most players.

“I think sometimes in spring training you can have one bad inning as a pitcher,” he continued. “If you’re only going 13, 14, 15 innings in spring training, that’ll skew your ERA, that’ll skew the ultimate stat line that you have.

“The other part that fans don’t always realize is maybe a guy’s working on something in a game that he wouldn’t normally do. Maybe it’s right-on-right changeups that he probably wouldn’t throw in a regular-season game but he wants to really get a feel for what that looks like. He might not perform as well in that game but he’s executed on what he’s really trying to do. I think that’s a big part of spring training.”

Players get a chance to work on certain aspects of their game in spring training without the pressure of it negatively affecting the team’s record. The growth of analytics and different measurements in recent years has also helped teams evaluate their players.

“How’s the velocity holding? How are the breaking pitches? Is he spotting up generally where he wants to? That’s what you’re looking for,” Falvey said. “And then how’s he respond in the training room, in the weight room? How is he building toward the season? That’s more of our focus than maybe just the top-line stat line.”