The Kansas City Royals announced a contract extension today with their young left-handed starting pitcher, Danny Duffy, that ensures Duffy will wear the Royal blue for another 5 years. Duffy is coming off of a fantastic campaign, in which he finally displayed the results that matched his talent. He was worth about 4 WAR and solidified his role as a starting pitcher. The Royals signed him for 5 years and $65Million in what should be a decidedly team-friendly deal.

He’s been something of a favorite of mine for the last 12 months. I did a deep dive on his success back in June, but the basic key to success for Duffy, as with most other pitchers, was his ability to locate his fastball and cut down on his walks. He also made an appearance in my Golden Age of the Lefty Fastball piece as guy who averages 95 on his fastball. That deep dive piece published just as I was moving and shaking in my fantasy league, with the goal to pick Duffy off of the waiver wire. A certain OTBB editor saw that piece and pounced on Duffy, leaving my squad a starting pitcher short and all I could do was follow his summertime dominance longingly. The Royals, having likely learned from my fantasy squad, will not be watching Duffy dominate for another squad. They know how good he is.

To continue reading about the Danny Duffy contract extension, please click on over to our mostly baseball blog.

This year’s class is notable for the dearth of college pitching, which serves as a direct contrast to the relative scarcity of college position players. As far as the high school talent goes, there seem to be more position players than there are pitchers. However, this particular class is notable for its dearth of two-way players.

The Minnesota Twins “earned” the first overall selection after a miserable 2016 season, one that saw their pitching staff and offense underperform under renewed expectations. Minnesota hadn’t occupied the top spot in the draft since 2001 when they took an in-state product and current first baseman Joe Mauer out of Cretin-Durham Hall High School. In a year that has no consensus top prospect, much like 2016, anything is possible. The Twins could go after a prep product, like San Diego prepster Hunter Greene or they could go for a major league ready collegian, like Jeren Kendall or Kyle Wright.

2017 MLB Mock Draft – January Edition

Baseball has an ability like no other to provide infinite anecdotes and recollections. Tim Kurkjian’s I’m Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies: Inside the Game We All Love (2016; St. Martin’s Press) captures that unique proclivity. The renowned ESPN personality/journalist has accumulated some of the best stories and oddities that he has collected during his decades of close involvement and observation of the game and turned them over to the fans for their own enjoyment.

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