KC Royals: Can Danny Duffy Stay Healthy For An Entire Season?

KC Royals fans and coach have been hoping for several years now that Danny Duffy would someday put it all together and become the starting pitcher that everyone thinks he could be. Since being thrust into the starting rotation, Duffy has been excellent  and may finally be the young “ace” everyone though he could be. But can he last through the grind of an entire season?

Duffy was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2007 draft by the KC Royals out of high school. Duffy moved up fairly quickly though the Royals farm system making his MLB debut in 2011. The scouting report on Duffy was that he had an outstanding 95mph+ fastball, and one of the better breaking balls seen out of a LHP. The projection was that he would eventually settle into a #2 starters role. However, scouts said he often tried to nibble too much and his curve often caught too much of the plate.

In Duffy’s rookie season he started 20 games, with a 5.64 ERA in just over 105 innings. After a season of growing pains in 2011, mainly due to issuing too many walks, Duffy started hot in 2012 where he had an ERA of 3.9 in six starts. However, the 2012 season was cut short when he suffered a torn UCL in his left arm and underwent Tommy John’s surgery ending his season.

Duffy returned to the rotation at the tail end of 2013 going 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA. With the great start to 2012, and the low ERA in 2013, separated by Duffy’s recovery from Tommy John, it was thought that Duffy would slot in the 2014 season as the KC Royals #2 or #3 starter behind James Shields and Jason Vargas.

Next: Duffy Joins Rotation

Duffy Finally Logs A Full Season In KC Rotation

2014 was a productive season for Duffy as he posted a season ERA of 2.53 and the lowest walk rate (3.19 BB/9) of his career. However, in early September of 2014, Duffy sustained an injury in New York which kept him off the field for the rest of the month, and only sparingly used in the 2014 post season.

Reports later came that Duffy was injured all the way through the 2014 post season

Reports later came that Duffy was injured all the way through the 2014 post season, which explained why pitchers like Jeremy Guthrie and Jason Vargas were selected to start despite Duffy having had a MUCH better season than either of them. In fact, Duffy’s 2.53 ERA in 2014 was the lowest of any starter on the 2014 KC Royals, and a full 2.5 runs better than Guthrie. Duffy pitched 4.2 innings in the 2014 post season yielding 2 runs on 3 hits and 4 walks.

Fully healthy, Danny Duffy was projected to be a key piece to the 2015 KC Royals rotation with Yourdano Ventura headlining the staff. Following a decent start to 2015 with a March/April ERA of 3.45, Duffy fell apart in May giving up 14 runs in only 9.2 innings over the course of 3 starts before being placed on the DL with yet another injury.

Duffy was activated June 24th, 2015 and had an excellent July with an ERA of 2.51, and kept his ERA below 4 for the remainder of the 2015 season. However, Danny Duffy found himself the odd man out in the post season yet again when the KC Royals went to a 4 man rotation with newly rented Johnny Cueto, Yourdano Ventura, Chris Young, and Edison Volquez rounding out the starting staff. Duffy’s 2015 post season performance was a bit of feast or famine where he had a few scoreless innings while also giving up 4 runs on 7 hits and 2 home runs in 6 total innings pitched.

Next: Duffy Starts 2016 In Pen