Royals’ Danny Duffy “humbled” by chance to honor friend and former teammate Yordano Ventura
There aren’t many pitchers left on the Kansas City Royals roster who witnessed the impact Yordano Ventura had on their organization, but left-hander Danny Duffy soaked it in up close.
Ventura, known affectionately as “Ace,” played a critical role in their 2014 and 2015 postseason runs. Beloved by teammates and having often displayed a fiery disposition on the field, Ventura emerged from those postseason runs as a rising star.
Ventura had just started growing into the workhorse of the Royals staff when he died tragically in a car crash at age 25 in 2017.
Duffy played alongside Ventura and celebrated the 2015 World Series championship with him. This season, Duffy will pay tribute to his friend and former teammate by being the first player to wear Ventura’s jersey No. 30 since Ventura’s death.
“It definitely wasn’t my idea, but when I was presented with the opportunity I was, one, very humbled, and two, eager to take that chance,” Duffy said. “It’ll be cool. I figured if it’s going to be recirculated, it would be nice for one of the boys who knew him to be able to wear it. I’m really thankful that they kind of bestowed that honor on me.”
The Royals made the jersey change official this week when pitchers and catchers began spring training workouts in Surprise, Arizona.
Duffy spoke to reporters for the first time on Saturday afternoon, and he discussed the decision to honor Ventura and discussed his mentality as he heads into a pivotal year for both the team and for his own career.
Duffy, 32, explained that the offseason addition of slugger Carlos Santana prompted the jersey change.
Santana had worn Duffy’s previous No. 41 throughout his career. Duffy offered to give up the number for Santana, and Duffy initially wasn’t concerned about which new number he’d receive.
That was until several people — Duffy declined to identify them specifically — raised the idea that Ventura’s number would eventually go back into circulation. The thought was Duffy could honor Ventura’s memory by wearing the number.
“I jumped at that opportunity,” Duffy said. “It’s going to be cool knowing that I’ve got his old number on my back, rep him and honor him however I can.”
The only hurdle Duffy personally needed to make sure was cleared before he’d take on the No. 30 was that Ventura’s mother, Marisol Hernandez, approved.
“I was told that she was more than happy to allow me to wear it,” Duffy said. “I think that’s really important. That humbled me even further. It’s a big deal, and I’m excited to wear it.”
Crucial season
The club made several aggressive acquisitions this offseason geared toward being competitive in the AL Central this year. Meanwhile, Duffy enters the final year of his contract with the club.
“I understand the business side of baseball,” Duffy said of his pending free agency. “That stuff will take care of itself. I’m just going to go out there and do my thing, try to help this team win and try to be consistent.”
The Royals pitching staff, like many others in the majors, enters the 2021 season in a potentially-vulnerable position after a pandemic-shortened season drastically altered the typical throwing progressions of young, inexperienced arms still building up the endurance to handle the workload associated with a full 162-game season.
There’s a likelihood that some of the Royals young pitchers such as Brady Singer and Kris Bubic will have their workloads purposefully and artificially curtailed this season.
That will likely put an increased onus on pitchers who’ve logged significant innings previously such as offseason acquisition Mike Minor, budding ace Brad Keller, Jakob Junis and Duffy to pitch the bulk of the innings for the starting rotation.
Royals manager Mike Matheny said the two primary things he wants from Duffy this season are simply focus and consistency.
Duffy, who made his MLB debut in 2011, has pitched 1,111 1/3 regular-season innings in the majors. He’s been the opening day starter on more than one occasion. His largest single-season workload of 179 2/3 innings in 2016 ranks behind only Minor for the most of any of the team’s projected starters going into camp.
“Duffy was our guy who threw game number one for us last year,” Matheny said. “We need some guys who are going to take the ball and roll. I anticipate him being one.”
Last season, Duffy went 4-4 with a 4.66 ERA in 11 starts with 9.2 strikeouts per 9 innings and 1.30 WHIP in 56 innings. Hitters made him pay for mistakes to the tune of 10 home runs.
Duffy made one relief appearance and allowed two runs in 1/3 of an inning.
He said he took three to four weeks off of throwing from the mound, but he continued to throw and took a different approach to his offseason due to the shortened 2020 season.
“I did not stop playing catch for the first time in any offseason,” Duffy said. “I really like the way I felt at the end of the season. I had some really rocky starts in the middle part of it, albeit we played for 60 days. The middle part of it was a bit of a struggle for me. I liked how I felt at the end, minus that lone relief appearance.”
He’s heading into this season with a mindset to not worry about innings or the business side.
Physically, he wants to maintain the level of health he felt to end 2020. Mentally, he’s hoping to sustain a “primal mentality” on the mound.
“I feel a lot more at peace with everything, and I’m really looking forward to what we have in our hands right now,” Duffy said.
