The borderline information overload presented to Ryan Pressly a few hours earlier was still fresh in his mind when he took the Minute Maid Park mound for his Astros debut last July 28.



The gist of the message delivered by the Astros’ analytics team and pitching coach Brent Strom was for Pressly to throw more breaking balls, curveballs especially, than he had with his previous team, the Twins, who had traded him to Houston the previous night. The rate at which he spins the ball is elite, they stressed. They recommended pitch usage percentages for which he should strive to maximize his skill set.



The introductory meeting and thoughts of what could be made Pressly anxious to put the new suggestions into practice. The wait for his first opportunity lasted only six innings of that night’s game against the Rangers, his hometown team.



Rougned Odor was first up, leading off the seventh inning. Odor bats left-handed, the handedness of hitter the Astros...