Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera have been magnificent this season for the Kansas City Royals. It is as simple as that. What they have accomplished is incredible.
Who could have predicted such dominance from these two relief pitchers?
Wade Davis struggled mightily last year as a starter after coming over from the Tampa Bay Rays with James Shields. He produced a terrible 5.32 ERA and a 1.677 WHIP in 135.1 innings in 2013.
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Davis was probably going to pitch out of the bullpen this season anyway, but when last year’s rotation-to-bullpen success story, Luke Hochevar, went down with a season ending elbow injury in Spring Training, the Royals turned the 8th inning set up duties over to Davis.
Wade Davis turned in an incredible season for the Royals in 2014. In the regular season, he accumulated a terrific 1.00 ERA and a .847 WHIP. In 72 innings, he struck out 109 batters, a club record for a reliever.
Opponents had only .179 Slugging Percentage against him, and a .408 OPS. He surrendered just just 3 doubles and 2 triples all season, and zero home runs. That’s right – he kept all batted balls in the ball park.
In May of 2013, after surrendering three home runs over six May appearances, bloating his ERA to 4.87, the Royals sent Kelvin Herrera to the minors. He returned on June 5th, and from that point on, he was solid with a 3.32 ERA. More importantly, he only gave up one home run, that coming on July 25th.
White Cleat Beat
In fact, that is the ONLY home run he has given up since then.
This season, pitching often in the 7th inning with a lead, Kelvin Herrera produced 1.41 ERA and a 1.143 WHIP over 70 innings. Opponents have Slugged only .266 against him, with a .561 OPS. He surrendered just 12 extra base hits, all doubles. No home runs. None.
In his last 108 innings, he has allowed just that one home run in July of 2013.
This season, in 142 combined innings Wade Davis have allowed 17 extra base hits and zero home runs. It is hard to quantify just how important that is when you consider most of their innings are protecting leads.
These two relievers have been as good as anyone could have ever hoped in 2014, and when combined with shut down closer, Greg Holland, it had to be intimidating to the opposition. If the Royals were winning going into the seventh inning, it was pretty much over.
As the Kansas City Royals continue their incredible trek through the 2014 post season, the confidence these pitchers provide for the rotation and for manager Ned Yost cannot be measured.
Enjoy this ride, Royals fans. And enjoy watching these incredible relievers put the ball into Holland’s hand at the end of ball games. It is a luxury of which few teams can boast.