Garvin Alston isn’t the most well-known man in baseball, but it’s easy to see why the Twins were impressed with what he had to say when they interviewed him for their pitching coach opening.

Asked Thursday if he has a specialty pitch he likes to teach, Alston said pitch development was a key component of his previous stops with the Oakland A’s and San Diego Padres but quickly added a qualifier.

“First,” he said, “one of the biggest things I teach is commanding the zone with the fastball.”

Locating the fastball and getting ahead of hitters early has been a major point of emphasis for the Twins under chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine since they took over the reins last November.

In Alston, they believe they’ve found their man. Related Articles Twins reinstate pitcher Homer Bailey and will start him tonight vs. Tigers

After Tuesday’s game vs. Tigers, Twins will enter quarantine bubble

Jose Berrios turns in scoreless outing in win over Cubs

Home-field advantage on the line for the Twins in last week of season

Twins clinch playoff berth with victory over Cubs

Alston, 45, was announced Thursday as the Twins’ pitching coach, replacing Neil Allen, the only assistant coach from manager Paul Molitor’s staff let go after the season ended with an 8-4 loss to the Yankees in the American League wild-card game.

“To be a part of this relationship with the Minnesota Twins, I’m just really, really happy,” he said Thursday.

Alston was the bullpen coach for the A’s for most of last season and was bullpen coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2016. A right-hander, he pitched nine professional seasons in the Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations and made six major-league appearances with the Rockies in 1996.

“I didn’t know about Garvin before he came in,” manager Paul Molitor said. “I did my homework and then gave him a chance to sit down and have a rather lengthy conversation with me. I thought there was a fairly instantaneous comfortability.”

That wasn’t enough to push Alston over the top, but it was a plus once the two started talking shop. From philosophy and communication style to the way the Twins want to use data to prepare their starting pitchers on game days, Alston “had good opinions on those, and I liked what he had to say,” Molitor said.

Alston was Oakland’s minor-league pitching coordinator from 2009-14, and started this season in the same capacity for the Padres.

“That’s something unique about his background,” Falvey said. “His experience there will only help foster relationship with guys who are at a low point in their careers, and help them get over a hump with whatever they’re dealing with.”

In 14 seasons as a pitching coach in the minor and major leagues, Alston said the analytic that stands out most is extension rate.

“Guys that are able to extend and release up front tend to have the ability to throw the ball over the plate, where they want throw it,” he said. “But there’s a lot of other data that goes into the process.”

He said he will start watching film on Twins pitchers, then reach out to them.

“It’s really important to get to know who they are and what they are as people and build trust,” he said. “You can have all the information you want and if you can’t reach them, it serves no purpose.”