FORT MYERS, FLA. - The pitcher's rubber on a major league mound is 2 feet long, so there's more room to maneuver than it seems.

Pablo López hopes to use it to his advantage.

For most of his career, López has begun his windup with the toes of his right foot standing on the first base edge of the rubber and his heel on the dirt, so it appears he is centered on the mound as he delivers.

This season, López is experimenting with a new position, nearly the opposite: His right heel touches the rubber on the third base side, so he appears to be pitching from an off-center spot, almost crowding a hitter in the righthanded batter's box.

It's a position designed to allow some of his breaking pitches to appear inside in flight but move across the plate as they arrive at home plate.

"The idea of moving to the third base side is that the movement of the pitches will bring us to the plate or more on the plate," López explained Thursday after recording six outs against the Pirates in his first start of the spring. "There were a couple instances [in previous years], because I was shifted to the first base side, I was trying to hit specific lanes, and the movement of the pitches either brings me too much to the heart of the plate, or they just gave me too many noncompetitive misses. I have a tendency for my pitches to move more to my glove side. So shifting to the third base side, if the ball is going to move more toward my glove side, it will stay on that plane longer."

He's optimistic the change will make him even more difficult to hit for righthanders, who batted just .237 against him in 2024. But he's still experimenting with how to pitch to lefthanders from that position.

Lefthanded hitters will now see the ball a bit longer, something López is still trying to figure out.

"Because I have so much space. I want to avoid those misses that just fly and take off, and that's where I try to hit so much glove side," said López, who allowed two doubles, a single and a walk in the Pirates' three-run second inning. "I think I was compensating too much, trying to get too much glove side, and there were some non-competitive pitches. … It's my first game after doing that adjustment, so I'll use the feedback that I got today and move forward from it."

Why make the change now?

"You're always looking for ways to evolve," said López, who will earn $21.8 million with the Twins this season. "You're always looking to, 'OK, what's the one thing that I need to reach a new level, new heights?'"