Danny Duffy, Kansas City Royals
It’s been a tough first year of the Kansas City Royals’ rebuild. They’re currently occupying the American League Central basement and appear likely to lose 100 games for the first time since 2006. One of the few bright spots on this roster (i.e. potential trade chips) was supposed to be southpaw starter Danny Duffy, but that also hasn’t worked out very well.
A shoulder injury has already shut the hurler down for the remainder of 2018, and it was probably for the best. After posting a career-high 3.5 fWAR with a 3.81 ERA, 21.4% strikeout rate, and 6.7% walk rate last year, those numbers all worsened to 1.0, 4.88, 20.4%, and 10.1%, respectively, through 155 innings pitched.
There was a noticeable shift in Duffy’s pitch mix, as well. Fresh off throwing his slider at a career-high 29.4% clip in 2017, that number dipped down to 16.3%. While he threw his fastball with more frequency, there was also a spike in curveball usage (0.5% in ’17 to 9.4% in ’18).
The lefty did see success with his curveball (49 wRC+), but the effectiveness of his slider has also decreased in the process (71 wRC+ in ’17, 150 wRC+ in ’18).
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