Who says investigative journalism is dying out?

A few weeks ago, the blog Royals Review wrote about new Royals pitcher Wade Davis. There’s a good analysis there of his pitch types.

But, as that blog noted, there was confusion as to whether Davis threw a cutter and a slider last season with the Rays or if he dropped the slider from his repertoire. FanGraphs doesn't show Davis having thrown a cutter.

In an effort to solve to the cutter/slider puzzle, I went to great lengths to get the answer. Well, I walked about 8 feet over to Davis at FanFest and asked him.

So ... is that a cutter or a slider?

“I transform it into different things sometimes,” Davis said. “I’ve gotten better with manipulating the baseball, I guess you could say. Toward the end, I think I had more success with the cutter. But I enjoy throwing both. Anything that works, I’ll throw.”

OK, then.

Davis also was asked about location, specifically if he likes to keep his pitches low and away from hitters.

“Not all the time,” Davis said. “I like coming up there. I love pitching inside. I would never say I’m a guy who likes to go down and away and stay away from the hitter’s strength.

“I love pitching inside, especially now that my mentality has grown and has matured, I think that’s going to be something that is going to be more beneficial to becoming a better pitcher.”

That’s what the Royals are hoping as they project him as part of the starting rotation.