Kansas City Royals: The Evolution Of Wade Davis

While he’s a fan favorite of the Kansas City Royals now, there was a point in time when Wade Davis wasn’t as beloved.

The year was 2012, and the Kansas City Royals had just made MLB headlines when it was announced that they had traded Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, and Mike Montgomery to the Tampa Bay Rays for pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis.

The trade, up until this past summer, was known as the “James Shields trade” to Royals fans, and was the moment that many hoped would turn Kansas City back into a baseball town for the first time since 1985.

Fortunately for Dayton Moore, the trade worked out just fine.

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Shields came into Kansas City and did what Moore acquired him to do – Bring leadership to the rotation and help get this team to the postseason. Shields eventually departed after the 2014 season for San Diego, where he got a big ol’ contract.

Wade Davis, on the other hand, was not originally a factor of any kind for the KC Royals.

He started off in the rotation in the 2013 season, but did not fare well there. After struggling in the rotation (he had a 5.67 ERA after 24 starts), Davis was moved to the bullpen where he found his niche.

Davis finished the season as a reliever posting a 0.90 ERA and lowering his season ERA to a 5.32. He ended the 2013 season with an 8-11 record in 24 starts and 31 total games and pitched a total of 135.1 innings.

Davis was underwhelming in 2013, but fans had no idea what the former Ray would have to offer the Royals in the 2014 season. Davis remained in the bullpen that year, and went on to have a historic year as a reliever.

He’s no longer just the “D” in H-D-H, he’s Wade freakin’ Davis, man.

Davis ended the 2014 regular season with 9-2 record and 1.00 ERA in 71 games and 72.0 innings pitched. Davis was the middle member of the famous H-D-H trio and was the eighth inning guy for Kansas City that year. He was the set-up man for closer Greg Holland, and it was pretty much lights out from there.

H-D-H were fun to watch. Royals fans just knew if their team had the lead after six innings that the game was long done. Once Kelvin Herrera would trot out of the bullpen to the mound, the game was over.

Davis was so clutch in 2014 that he did not allow a home run ALL SEASON. That’s incredible!

Many (including myself) thought it’d be next to impossible for Wade Davis to have a better year than he did in 2014, but 2015 was just that. Aside from giving up more home runs (three all year, whoop de do), Davis had a better year in 2015.

He posted an ERA of 0.94 by the end of the regular season and had an 8-1 record in 69 games and 67.1 innings pitched. He gave up eight total runs (same as he did in 2014) and you just always had a good feeling about the Royals’ chances of winning whenever Davis headed to the mound.

Wade Davis also took on the closer role midway through the year, as Holland was struggling and went on the disabled list due to needing Tommy John surgery. Davis notched 24 saves at the end of the year.

Wade Davis put his name in Kansas City Royals postseason history with his performances during the playoffs. His most notable ones:

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ALDS Game 4 – The Royals had come back down four runs, and Wade Davis pitched two clean innings for the save and helped force a decisive Game 5 at Kauffman Stadium
ALCS Game 6 – After taking over for Ryan Madson in the eighth, Davis got out of the inning without any further damage. A rain delay occurred, and while Luke Hochevar was warming up in the pen, you just knew that Davis was going to go back out there and finish the game off, like he often did. Davis, after an hour long rain delay, gave nearly everyone a heart attack when there was a man on third with no outs. Somehow, someway, Davis struck out the next two batters and then got Josh Donaldson to ground out to Mike Moustakas for the final out. The Royals clinched their second consecutive American League pennant in that game, and Davis was a huge part of it.
World Series Game 5 – After yet another crazy comeback, Davis recorded the final three outs of the Royals’ 2015 season. He and Drew Butera (who was in the game due to Jarrod Dyson pinch running for Salvador Perez) embraced after the final out.

From lousy starter in the rotation to dominant reliever to an even more dominant closer, Wade Davis has proven to be a fan favorite in Kansas City. He’s no longer just the “D” in H-D-H, he’s Wade freakin’ Davis, man.

Next: Top Ten Moments During 2015 Postseason

Watch out for him because he’s one of the best relievers in the major leagues, and that likely won’t change in 2016.

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