Will a change of scenery help Floro succeed?

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Dylan Floro hopes that the proverbial change in scenery will help him get back to his old self -- and he hopes that, regardless, it’s about time for his luck to even out, too.

The newest member of the Twins’ relief corps has closed out 32 games for the Marlins across the last three seasons, but he drifted down the team’s relief hierarchy due to the struggles that led to a 4.54 ERA in 39 2/3 innings across 43 appearances with Miami this season. Regardless, the Twins feel he can help -- and the underlying metrics say that Floro has been better than that.

Why does he feel like there’s such a discrepancy between his 2.78 FIP (which strips away all elements out of the pitcher’s control) and 3.23 expected ERA (based on quality of contact) and those less-than-ideal results-based numbers?

“Right now, with the new shift rules, I think I'm getting hit with the ground balls where usually there might be a shortstop there if we're playing dead pull. A lot of those, that's hurt me a little bit this year,” Floro said. “I think it's a matter of time that it's going to change, where that ground ball is going to go a little more right, a little more left.”

The Twins sure hope so, because that’s the basis of Floro’s game. He generates tons of ground balls -- a 55% clip that would rank third among Twins regulars behind only Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax, which is good company.

But this season, Floro’s BABIP (batted average on balls in play) has soared more than 100 points from .288 last season to .398, meaning that a much higher percentage of those balls in play are finding gaps for hits. For reference, Floro’s career BABIP has been .316, and the league average is .297, making this season a big outlier.

“Just staying with my strengths,” Floro said. “Just because I give up a ground-ball hit doesn't mean that's the end of it. I just stay with my strengths knowing that I can get a quick out, and I can get ground-ball outs, I can get strikeouts if I need to once in a while, and just trust in my defense behind me and the guys I have.”

Floro’s fortunes didn’t turn in his first appearance for his new team on Friday, when he entered in relief of Jovani Moran in the eighth inning and allowed a ground ball up the middle for an RBI single. But he also hoped that the infielders behind him in Minnesota would help, anchored by Carlos Correa at shortstop.

Here’s the thing, though: The Twins’ infield has actually been worth -10 Outs Above Average this season, per Statcast, ranking 24th of 30 teams in the league and six runs worse than the Marlins. That includes a -17 OAA split against lefties, who have feasted on Floro this season.

But still, perhaps the fresh start could help.