Wade Davis’ return to the Royals capped an electric season opener at Kauffman Stadium
Neither nostalgia nor proving the doubters wrong will serve as a sufficient motivation for right-hander Wade Davis in his second stint with the Kansas City Royals.
He’ll march to his own beat, and right now his focus remains on being able to take the ball whenever needed.
Davis, 35, recorded the save in Thursday’s season-opening 14-10 win over the Texas Rangers. He came in with runners on the corners and one out. A key figure on the Royals’ 2015 World Series championship team, Davis struck out the final two batters of the game on eight pitches to register his first save for the club since Sept. 28, 2016.
“I was really excited and interested to get back in, working with Salvy again, being around some players I’ve played with in the past,” Davis said on Saturday. “Also feeling like I definitely want to get out and prove some things and have sustained success and also have a lot of fun. My goal coming in was to make the team and have a lot of fun and just help out however I can.”
After the 2016 season, the Royals traded him to the Chicago Cubs for Jorge Soler. Prior to the 2018 season, the Colorado Rockies lured Davis to the hitter’s haven known as Coors Field with what was the largest contract for a relief pitcher in MLB history.
After not performing up to his own standards in Colorado — the team designated him for assignment and then released him late last season — he signed a minor-league deal to return to the Royals.
Davis isn’t aiming to recreate the pitcher he was in 2014-16. He said he changes every year, but he just doesn’t really know exactly how things will progress until they happen.
He also hoped that not throwing a lot last year might come with the added benefit of being fresher this season.
As far as his reference to wanting to “prove some things,” Davis elaborated.
“A lot of it is just to myself,” Davis said. “It’s not to anybody else. ... It’s just going out and pitching a full season, trying to get 60, 70 games in. It’s just one of those things where you feel like you’ve got to participate in a full season, the whole physical grind of it all. You take a lot of pride in that.
“Not being able to do that last year and really the year before is something that has been weighing on my mind a little bit. So I want to go out and have a full season, get through it and have a lot of fun doing it.”
Davis led the National League with 43 saves in 2018, but after the first month of 2019, Davis registered an ERA of 11.02 while opponents batted .314 and slugged .529.
Last season, Davis dealt with a shoulder strain that forced him onto the injured list. He returned late in the pandemic-shortened season, but the Rockies designated him for assignment in September. He appeared in just five games and gave up 10 runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Royals manager Mike Matheny, who has both played and managed in the National League, believes Coors Field, set at high elevation, and the adjustments teams and pitchers must make for that ballpark can have a tangible impact on even top pitchers.
“It’s real,” Matheny said. “There is no doubt about it. It is real. It affects stuff. We all know about the ball flight and how the ball carries. You’re just as subjected to the bloops as you are the bombs because you have to play so deep and you have to cover such large gaps. But the thing that really goes unnoticed is how much your stuff changes, how much your pitches move or the lack thereof.”
In his first outing, a very small sample size, Davis flashed a four-seam fastball averaging 94.5 mph. Davis’ fastball velocity in 2020 averaged 91.4 mph as he dealt with the shoulder issue.
Davis downplayed any talk of increased velocity, focusing his energy more on making pitches in the spots he wants when he wants.
Matheny did assert that pitching in Denver does tend to alter a pitcher’s confidence and, as a result, how they pitch.
“Some guys, their stuff doesn’t get as affected,” Matheny said. “I don’t know the science behind it, except that I’ve watched it happen too many times to not know that it’s a real issue.
“Some guys when they get out of there, it’s a new life. That’s what I believe we’re seeing with Wade right now.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2021 at 6:46 PM.
