Player Spotlight: Gavin Floyd/John Danks
6.5, 7.5, 10.0, 12.5. The number of games back that the Twins, Indians, Tigers, and Royals sit respectively behind the White Sox who boast the single largest division lead in all of baseball. While not a player in their everyday lineup has posted an average on the favorable side of .300, the White Sox have eaten up competition with the ease of Takeru Kobayashi taking down a hot dog. Most of this unexpected success comes thanks to the efforts of the club’s starting staff who accrued a 3.35 ERA to this point; the best in the majors.
The familiar faces of Javier Vazquez and Jose Contreras have held up their end of the bargain to say the least, but relative newbies Gavin Floyd and John Danks have been the real key to the White Sox success so far.
The former Philly, Floyd, came to the windy city during the 2006/2007 offseason as the main token of the Freddy Garcia trade (which also happened to include Gio Gonzalez who has blossomed into one of the most prolific strikeout pitchers in the minors – and has since been traded to Oakland). After a promising beginning to his big league career in 2004, the Phillies grew weary of once heralded (#4 overall pick in 2001) prospect’s struggles in the 2005 and 2006 seasons during which compiled an ERA north of 8 in just over 80 combined innings of work. Floyd has shown the numbers of a dependable #2 or #3 starter this year as he has posted quality starts in 75% of his appearances highlighted by nearly completing a no-hitter against the Twins in early May. He’s yet to eclipse the 100 inning mark in his young career (he’s already thrown more innings and made more starts by mid-June than during any complete season in his career) so only time will tell if his early season success will be a reliable sign of good things to come. Even so, Floyd has a great chance to post a sub-4 ERA for the first time since his rookie year.
John Danks, similarly to Floyd, endured a less than impressive 2007 campaign after coming to the Sox during the 2006/2007 winter meetings. Despite his struggles during his rookie year (5.50 ERA, 1.54 WHIP), he’s proved his worth as a highly touted prospect this year by thus far recording an ERA of 3.13 and also fanning over 6.5 per 9. Danks was never known for posting a dominant ERA during his three year tenure in the minors, but could be counted upon to hold that in check while also, contrary to Floyd, posting impressive strikeout totals (over 9.0 K/9 in 5 of his 8 stops). Though it’s not likely for Danks to keep up his current pace, it’s certainly reasonable to see a 13-15 win, 3.80 ERA, 150 K season in his near future.
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 11:25 am and is filed under Fantasy Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
