https://theathletic.com/2563436/2021...-league-debut/
What Royals prospect Daniel Lynch has done to prove he’s ready for his big-league debut
by
Alec Lewis
Originally Posted by :
The last time Daniel Lynch pitched at Kauffman Stadium, he performed in a memorable way.
This was a night last fall under the lights. It was Lynch’s final outing of a 2020 year truly unique. He had been in Kansas City all summer and fall but not with the Royals. Instead, he had been pitching at the Royals’ alternate site in Wyandotte County, Kan.
In multiple outings there in front of spectators such as general manager Dayton Moore, Lynch, the 6-foot-6 left-hander from Newport News., Va., showed he was truly ready. He believed it himself. Believed his fastball command had improved. Believed his change-up had become a tougher pitch to hit. That night at Kauffman Stadium, his final outing before the Royals shut him down for the winter, was another chance for him to show his belief.
Paul Gibson, the Royals’ director of pitching performance and a former big-league pitcher, stood on the side of the field while Lynch stood on the mound. Gibson observed the plane of Lynch’s pitches. The fastballs were jumping out of his hand, flowing downhill, seemingly impossible to hit. So were his breaking balls and change-ups.
“He just absolutely dealt,” Gibson said recently.
Gibson had believed Lynch’s big-league opportunity would come, dating back to when the Royals had selected Lynch with the No. 34 pick in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft. The performance seemed like validation.
“I knew that night,” Gibson said, “this kid is going to be really good. And he’s going to help us.”
On Sunday, the Royals made a move, indicating their readiness for that help. They announced Lynch, whom The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked as his No. 17 prospect in MLB, will be starting Monday’s game at Kauffman Stadium against Cleveland. It was gratifying for Gibson as well as the entire pitching staff. Gratifying because he knows the work Lynch, 24, has put in to achieve this dream. Gratifying because that work began before that night at Kauffman Stadium and persisted afterward.
The first Royals staffer who ever laid eyes on Daniel Lynch is area scout Jim Farr. Maybe you’ve heard of him. He’s a former big-league pitcher though he only remained in the majors for a month.
If you haven’t heard of Farr, don’t feel bad. Area scouts spend their days behind the scenes, driving through small towns, watching games, eating late-night food, priding themselves on going the extra mile to find that one kid who can change the complexion of a multimillion-dollar franchise.
Here’s what you need to know about Farr, according to Keith Connolly, Royals northeast regional supervising scout: “There isn’t anybody he doesn’t know, hasn’t coached, played with their dad, coached against their dad, in that area.”
That’s how Farr stumbled on the lanky lefty when Lynch was in high school. Farr noticed a three-pitch mix. He was impressed. Farr followed Lynch’s career as Lynch attended the University of Virginia. He saw him progress as a junior but still believed Lynch could throw his fastball more, that Lynch’s fastball could one day be a weapon, that more velocity existed.
And that belief gets to Lynch’s early years in professional baseball. He progressed from a pitcher who threw in the low-90s to a power arm who touched 99 mph in 2019 in the Arizona Fall League. The progression, interestingly, shifted who he had been.
“I started trying to throw hard and became more of a thrower,” Lynch said. “I refined that into being able to actually pitch. Doing what I want to with the ball.”
That refining, as Lynch termed it, occurred throughout 2020. After spring training was shut down, and after Lynch showed up to Kauffman Stadium for the summer training camp, he and Gibson had conversations at the club’s alternate site. Lynch, Gibson said, has always wanted to put more on his plate. To progress. To improve past his ceiling. To push further.
Rather than adding too much, Gibson and Lynch boiled down their focuses for the alternate site to two elements: improve fastball command, enhance the change-up. Completing the first task involved Gibson listening to Lynch.
“Tell me what you feel when you feel good,” Gibson would say.
Lynch would explain the feeling, specifically with the fastball, as “getting on top of the ball.” It sounds simple, but when the body flows down the mound, it’s easy for the hand to drop down and push the ball, rather than releasing it at the high point. Thinking about “getting on top of the ball” became a cue, and the fastball command became more consistent.
Enhancing the change-up proved to be a task altogether different. One day, while flipping the baseball around and playing catch, Lynch adjusted his grip. He threw the ball. It felt more comfortable coming out of his hand.
He later tried it in a game and thought immediately: “I have a way better feel for this.”
The confidence carried into the next game. He’d throw the pitch behind in the count. He’d throw it to lefties and righties and to both sides of the plate. Succeeding as a pitcher, Gibson said, is about offsetting a hitter’s timing. That means pitching the ball up and down and right and left and front and back (adjusting velocity).
Lynch was able to do that throughout the fall but never more effectively than the last outing at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals noticed and knew then they would challenge him when spring training arrived.
For a Royals prospect to reach the big leagues, Royals general manager Dayton Moore believes three boxes must be checked. A player has to have the talent. A player has to be performing. There has to be an opportunity.
Here’s how Moore assessed Lynch’s talent recently: “There’s no denying the quality and the electricity of his pitches. That’s undeniable. … He’s got the makings of a top-of-the-rotation pitcher as he continues to evolve at the major league level.”
Throughout this spring, scouts from numerous teams echoed these thoughts. However, Lynch’s stat lines — the performance — wasn’t matching up. He posted a 7.71 ERA in 11 2/3 innings. More specific to the context of what had made him so successful in the fall of 2020, he struck out 14 batters but walked six.
The opportunity box remained unchecked when camp broke, too. The Royals knew they only needed four starters. Lynch wasn’t among them. So he flew out to the Royals’ alternate site at Double-A Northwest Arkansas and began to again hammer away at fastball command with Triple-A Omaha pitching coach Dane Johnson.
“He needed to get the ball located on the plate the right way from a delivery standpoint,” Johnson said.
Lynch had gotten away from what had made him so successful in the fall. He was drifting off the rubber too quickly. He needed to stay back and remain on top of the ball in his delivery, and that was the central focus: If Lynch delivered the fastball at the same spot each time, the fastball would hit its spot 60 feet, 6 inches away.
“When he works over the ball and on a downward plane with his fastball,” Johnson said, “that’s when he’s going good.”
In bullpens, Lynch would deliver some pitches. Afterward, he and Johnson would glance at the analytics: release height, spin rate, etc. They would indicate how consistently Lynch was repeating his mechanics efficiently. In time, the consistency ticked up. He was hitting his spots with the fastball, which meant good results for his breaking balls and change-up.
“That’s what I’ve learned,” Lynch said. “If I’m commanding my fastball, then good things typically happen. And then if I focus on that, all my pitches come off that delivery.”
In his final few outings at the alternate site, good things were happening. He was commanding his fastball to both sides of the plate. He was changing speeds. All of his pitches were clicking, and the Royals’ brass heard him loudly and clearly.
Meanwhile, the Royals’ bullpen had taken a hit. High-leverage relievers Kyle Zimmer and Jesse Hahn had been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left trap strain and right shoulder impingement, respectively. That meant opportunity.
Moore and manager Mike Matheny, among other decision-makers, thinking one month at a time, thought the best move would be to slide right-hander Jakob Junis to the bullpen to pitch leverage innings. That move, of course, opened a spot for the rotation.
Lynch had the talent. He was performing. Now here was an opportunity.
If there’s one quality Paul Gibson has been most impressed with from the time Lynch began working on his fastball command and change-up, to the night at Kauffman Stadium, to spring training, and to now, it’s Lynch’s “emotional maturity.”
Gibson said he saw it on the first day of spring training. Lynch, unlike 2020’s spring training, wasn’t tentative around the big-league coaching staff. Part of that might have been the byproduct of Matheny’s presence in the fall at Kauffman Stadium. Most of it, Gibson believed, was a testament to Lynch’s strides.
In the winter, Lynch said he was ready without hesitation. Admittedly, though, with the way he’s performed at the alternate site, he’s reached another level.
“I sort of felt it last year,” Lynch said. “But now I feel it even more so.”
Some of it is time and age. Some of it is the work he put in alongside Johnson. Some of it is him simply seeing results. Moore, nor the Royals, expect the most seamless transition. As Moore often says, take pitchers such as Adam Wainwright or Clayton Kershaw. Both struggled early in their careers.
At some point, though, when the three boxes are checked, a move must be made. The Royals are confident in this one. Confident that the pitcher will thrive off his familiarity at Kauffman Stadium. Confident that he’s going to be really good.
And that he’s going to help their organization for years to come.
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