Royals’ Danny Duffy looking for a literal and figurative bounce-back in Chicago Monday
Royals left-hander Danny Duffy takes the ball Monday night against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field to face an offense that has averaged 5.56 runs per game through its first nine contests.
It will be Duffy’s first start since looking poised for a lights-out performance against the Detroit Tigers last week, only to ultimately give up four runs in five innings as the Royals went on to lose 5-4.
Duffy was critical of his inability to go deeper into that game, but he did take some positives from the way his outing started.
“I felt like everything was working. It’s unfortunate, the way that it ended up, but I felt like everything was on,” Duffy said Sunday. “Yeah, I’m encouraged. I’m definitely encouraged with where I’m at. Results aren’t showing it in terms of numbers. The way the ball is jumping out of my hand is really good.”
The Tigers scored three of their four runs against Duffy in the fifth inning.
After the game, Duffy pointed to a 1-2 curveball he threw to JaCoby Jones that Jones hit for a one-out RBI double three batters into the inning. That made the score 4-2, turned the lineup over, and put a man on base to set the table for Jonathan Schoop’s two-run homer with two outs.
“If I could bounce a freaking curveball every once in a while, I’d be really happy about it,” Duffy said. “I’m working on getting through that — not hanging that (pitch). It’s relatively new again. I’m comfortable throwing it. If I could figure out a way to not hang that, leave it there on a platter, that would be nice.”
The reason Duffy has referred to the curveball as a “new” pitch is because he’s gotten away from throwing it at times during his career. He had Tommy John surgery in 2012 and has since felt some hesitance to use it.
According to MLB Statcast data, the curveball was the pitch Duffy threw most frequently after his four-seam fastball in 2014-16 (23.1 percent of the time). He threw it 22.5 percent, 23.8 percent and 23.1 percent of the time, respectively, in those three seasons.
In 2017, he went on the disabled list for oblique and elbow ailments, and he had elbow surgery following the season. He threw just 15 curveballs that year.
His usage of the pitch went down in 2018 (9.5 percent) and 2019 (9 percent). Duffy has described the pitch as “hit or miss” the past couple of seasons. But he has also talked about making adjustments in how he’s thrown it and the importance of having a pitch with a different break than his slider to keep hitters off-balance.
In his first two starts this season, Duffy has used the curveball 20 percent of the time.
“Looking at Duff’s first game against Cleveland, the breaking ball felt so good and the changeup he never really found that rhythm for,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “I think that’s smart pitching. We know what we think the scouting report tells us against this particular opponent, and that will sometimes dictate the usage on a particular pitch. But a guy like Duffy, as a starter, he’s going to need that as a weapon for sure.”
Matheny described such tinkering with a pitch arsenal as something that’s normal for starting pitchers, in his experience. Even a guy like St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright did a lot of manipulating with his curveball to make it do different things, Matheny said.
Matheny also suggested that adjustments in usage of various pitches is done more regularly now because of the amount of data and immediate feedback available thanks to today’s baseball technology.
“I’ve had some really good starting pitchers that are always manipulating their repertoire,” Matheny said. “Figuring out a new grip on a changeup, showing up to spring training with a completely new breaking ball and here’s the reason why.
“I think that’s part of the evolution of a pitcher, tinkering a little bit and trying to master something that might not be their greatest strengths.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Royals’ Danny Duffy looking for a literal and figurative bounce-back in Chicago Monday."
