Kansas City Royals: Wade Davis Was The Best Reliever In AL

The top KC Royals reliever had a heck of a season, but there’s one trophy he won’t win this year.

Kansas City Royals closer Wade Davis was the best reliever in the American League this season, but eight all-time great relievers who voted on the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Award couldn’t figure that out.

Yankees closer Andrew Miller won the award, according to MLB.com‘s Mark Newman. Good for him, because he made a great case for himself: 6’ 7″, power lefty, full-time closer, his slider one of the best pitches in the game. He posted a 2.04 ERA, 100 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings, and a 5.00 K/BB rate.

Think Aroldis Chapman. Two pitches: fastball, slider, ’cause they’re that good. I have no axe to grind with Miller – he deserves the award as much as Davis.

But Wade Davis was better.

Davis didn’t miss a month of the season like Miller did. He didn’t allow 14 earned runs like Miller did.

Davis’ regular-season ERA in 67 1/3 innings? 0.94. WHIP? 0.79. Earned runs?! Seven.

Davis allowed fewer runs, fewer earned runs, fewer home runs, pitched more innings and appeared in nine more games than Miller. Davis didn’t miss a month of the season like Miller did. He didn’t allow 14 earned runs like Miller did. he didn’t allow a home run for the first four months of the season and he had a lower Walk-rate than Miller.

Davis allowed two earned runs in a game…once. Andrew Miller allowed two earned runs in a game…four times. Not to mention Wade Davis throws (at least) four pitches.

Naturally, it was partly because he wasn’t a full-time closer that one voter didn’t have Davis number one, according to Newman’s article:

"“…there’s Wade Davis in his reliever role, he was dominant, and equally as important as closing out a game. So to try to take in all the factors with everybody and their value, at the end of the day, it’s still those three outs at the end that have a little more of an impact for me.” – Trevor Hoffman"

Trevor Hoffman has 601 career saves, so I’m sure he’s credible, but I’m not sure there wasn’t some bias there.

Both Davis and Miller were worth 2.0 Wins Above Replacement, according to FanGraphs.com, so tip your cap to Miller.

There’s also the advanced stats that support Miller and exactly how filthy he was this season. His 14.59 K/9 is bonkers. His 2.06 xFIP was a full run better than Davis’ (3.07 xFIP). (FanGraphs) Miller allowed fewer line drives, less hard contact and he pitched in one of the great hitting parks in the MLB.

No sour grapes if you’re a Royals fan, though – Davis has his eyes on a bigger trophy than the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Award, an award that was created last season (Greg Holland won in 2014).

So who you got: Wade Davis or Andrew Miller?

Next: KC Royals: Lorenzo Cain Is Not A 2015 Gold Glove Finalist

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