anyone could’ve predicted this kind of performance. But he was at the top of my list of all star snubs

In fairness he didn’t have his cut fastball last year, which has been pretty huge. And if you saw him last year you would’ve thought that the kid needed a lot more work. He didn’t locate his breaking ball very well at all, flashed a plus change but with the typical youthful inconsistency, and left his fastball out over the plate constantly.

He still needs to refine his command a bit but given his age and experience level he’s obviously doing great.

So why was he “underrated” (or at least as underrated as a guy who was a top 75 prospect even in his worst times can get)? Partially, Shiny New Toy Syndrome . . .Danks has good but not awesome raw stuff and needed to mature as a pitcher before he could succeed at higher levels. He was passed in the eyes of many by “new” prospects who were a bit more refined, at least in certain ways . . .then again, he’s caught up to and even passed most of them now. He was pushed aggressively into difficult environments and worked on developing as a pitcher rather than relying on what he knew best – while for the most part he didn’t post the eye-popping statistics that tend to get you noticed by many prospect-watchers these days, it wasn’t because of a decline in stuff.

IIRC, John himself was rather lukewarm about his hopes for Danks, citing command as a major concern. I don’t think he was totally off-base, but I think it’d be interesting for him to post some updated thoughts and a review of Danks as a prospect. He’s certainly shaping up as a prospect who may have slid between the cracks of both scouts and sabermetricians – both his stuff and his results were generally good but never quite enough on their individual merits to get him noticed as a truly elite prospect.

Danks was pushed aggressively by the Rangers. He was always jumped to the next highest level which resulted in his first half of the season being great and his second half of the season being rough as he jumped a level. Certainly, Danks would get into trouble with some walks and some homers.

At 19, great in Midwest League first half of season, tough time in Cal League.
At 20, great in Cal League, tough time in Texas League.

I think this is why “prospect guys” got down on Danks with their end of season lists – he ended every year pretty rough even though he was young for the league.

Danks is only 4 months older than David Price – and please people, I am not saying that Danks is better than Price – I am just pointing the age out.

I think Danks was developing everywhere he went and certainly with his new cut fastball, he is keeping the walks down and the ball in the park. He always had the stuff as a left hander.

Sending a young flyball pitcher to Arlington is like sending a diabetic to a sugar cane field. I always thought he was a tick overrated, and I always liked the Danks end of the trade better, but McCarthy’s career might look different if he had been traded to Florida for Burnett earlier, as was rumored strongly at the time. That ballpark probably would have made him look a lot more useful than W’s Bandbox.

I agree with most of what’s already been said but I don’t think you can overstate how important this pitch has been to his success. (Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t pitching coach Don Cooper teach Loaiza his the cutter the year he won 20?) He’s currently throwing the pitch 15% of the time, which may not seem like a lot, but it’s decreased his reliance on his FB (from 61% to 51%) and CB (from 17% to 7%), while increasing his GB rate from 35% to 45%. Not only that, but it adds one more pitch for the hitter to think about. I love the fact that he’s increased his K rate and lowered his BB rate simultaneously and he’s seen a slight uptick in his fastball velocity from 89.5 to 90.9. There aren’t too many LHP’s with a higher avg velo than Danks. Big fan.

Danks had pretty strong peripherals last year. Obviously the cutter was the major improvement to his game, but there were plenty of signs that he was a good pitcher behind his horrible ERA last year.

Now pat yourself on the back one last time and move on.