Kyle Davies (what's in that KC water?)

[KrunK]

I've seen his name mentioned in a few "super sleeper" threads, but after today I decided he might as well have his own thread. You might want to keep an eye on this guy, he had a 2.27 ERA in September last year and held the White Sox scoreless in 7IP on 3 hits, 2 walks and 8 strikeouts today. My roommate has the MLB all access subscription, so I want to check out his next start. I didn't see him pitch today but people that did said his fastball was showing more movement, his command was improved, and his breaking pitches looked very sharp. He's owned in only 1.9% of ESPN's leagues, so if anything he is a guy I wouldn't be afraid to spot start, see how he does, and then make a decision from there. If you have an open roster spot or a player you wouldn't think twice about dropping he is worth a shot (especially in deeper leagues or ones you need help with at SP), he could be a nice addition off of the WW. If anything you ride him while he has the hot hand and drop him if he implodes. He could have a year similar to Gavin Floyd in '08, mid 20's pitcher (25 years old) that finally puts it together.

If he can keep this up (to a degree, obviously I'm not expecting 7 inning shutouts by any means) KC could have a nice rotation with Meche and Greinke and possibly Davies emerging. I checked out his game log last year and he only had 4 starts where he gave up more than 3 runs, however controlling his pitch count and going past the 5th inning was his biggest problem most of the year. His '08 game log reminded me of Kazmir's, but with less K's (I'm not comparing the two, as a previous Kaz owner it looked familiar ).

Like I said, I'm going to check out his next start online and see how he does. Right now I don't have anyone on either of my teams I'd want to drop for him right now, so I'll keep a tab on him for the time being and half-heartedly hope one of my players bombs if he keeps this up.

[AllDay]

I was just thinking about grabbing him. He's burned me before so he owes me (of course that reasoning got me Delmon Young whom I would drop).

Always had tons of potential. Having the Mexicutioner closing games should be a bonus.

http://royalsblog.kansascity.com/?q=node/281

Davies has a really interesting backstory. He was dubbed his age's best pitcher in the country at 14, sort of the baseball version of LeBron James.

He has struggled with that, as I think anybody would, and was the first big league player to admit working with one-time Royals World Series hero Buddy Biancalana's mental training program for pro athletes of all sports. Davies credits the program -- in part, at least -- for his emergence last September, when he went 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA in five starts. He gives Royals fans a real reason to believe.

Davies worked a construction job in the offseason, pouring concrete, manning the dumpsters, all the grunt work that goes into building McDonalds restaurants -- a big league ballplayer choosing to do manual labor because, as he puts it, he "didn't want to sit around on the couch all day."

[Polar Bear]

"Mexicutioner"

That has got to be the dumbest nickname I have heard in awhile...

I picked Davies up during ST. I think he could win 14 games this year.

[JTWood]

Kyle Davies (what's in a small sample size?)

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.ph ... -size-plea

I know the OP has tempered expectations, but I'm just sayin'.

[garf112]

i said at the beginning of the year, that Kyle Davies could be one of those pitchers that figures it out this year. He certainly has the prospect pedigree. He was rushed to the majors at just 21 years old. You can see in his stats as a whole last year that he started to figure something out. His walk rate went down and he allowed far fewer HRs.

I understand small sample sizes, but a breakout has to start somewhere, and the guy is only 25.

[Tavish]

Kyle Davies (what's in a small sample size?)

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.ph ... -size-plea

I know the OP has tempered expectations, but I'm just sayin'.

His failure at the Major League level is even a smaller of a sample size as his success at the minor league level.

[lastingsgriller]

"Mexicutioner"

That has got to be the dumbest nickname I have heard in awhile...

I picked Davies up during ST. I think he could win 14 games this year.

Mexicutioner is the best nickname in baseball..

along with-
El Caballo - Carlos Lee
The Hebrew Hammer - Ryan Braun
El Enano (little Dwarf) - Rafael Furcal
Big Papi - David Ortiz
The Flyin' Hawaiian - Shane Victorino

[decoy562]

I hope he does well, but as a Braves fan, I have experienced periods of brillance followed by much longer periods of suck

[JTWood]

Kyle Davies (what's in a small sample size?)

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.ph ... -size-plea

I know the OP has tempered expectations, but I'm just sayin'.

His failure at the Major League level is even a smaller of a sample size as his success at the minor league level.

He's got 400+ MLB innings, with 7 good ones this year, compared to just under 600 innings of minors ball.

It's not like we're looking at 100 innings here.

[Polar Bear]

"Mexicutioner"

That has got to be the dumbest nickname I have heard in awhile...

I picked Davies up during ST. I think he could win 14 games this year.

Mexicutioner is the best nickname in baseball..

along with-
El Caballo - Carlos Lee
The Hebrew Hammer - Ryan Braun
El Enano (little Dwarf) - Rafael Furcal
Big Papi - David Ortiz
The Flyin' Hawaiian - Shane Victorino

I like The Hebrew Hammer

Mexicutioner sucks...although now that I think about it Pronk may be an even worse nickname.