Kansas City Royals: 3 stars from series win against Miami

3. Danny Duffy

Danny Duffy made his second start since returning from the injured list. In his first start back, Duffy went 6.1 innings and allowed 3 earned runs while striking out 3 batters with just 1 walk. He induced 14 ground balls and needed just 90 pitches in his outing before being replaced.

On Saturday, Duffy danced around a little trouble as he allowed 4 free passes to Marlins batters but struck out 5 batters in 6.0 innings of work. He needed 95 pitches to get through 6 innings but he ended up getting a no-decision.

The offense came to life in the top half of the 7th inning backing Duffy’s start and taking the series. With all the talk about Duffy potentially moving to the bullpen next season to preserve his health and longevity, he’s making a strong case to stay in the rotation.

On the season, his ERA sits at 4.71 and he’s on pace for the lowest K/9 (7.83) since the 2015 season. Duffy is also allowing the highest HR/9 (1.52) of his career this season so perhaps a move to the bullpen where he’s pitching fewer innings would do him some good.

Similar to Ian Kennedy, Duffy could see a spike in his average fastball velocity tossing just one inning at a time. It will be interesting to see what the plan is going into the offseason but, obviously, if new owner John Sherman pursues starting pitching in free agency, we may very well have our answer.

Onto Chicago.