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Rookie trio brightens future for Rays
Davis' emergence complements rise of Price, Niemann
By Zach Schonbrun / MLB.com
09/21/09 3:53 PM ET
ST. PETERSBURG -- Because he was pitching against the Blue Jays that day, David Price needed to find someone else to complete his new pregame routine. Price, Tampa Bay's rookie left-hander and recently appointed lineup card attendee, had to designate someone else to bring the card to the umpires before the day's first pitch.Price decided on Wade Davis, his quiet, sharp-eyed, square-jawed fellow rookie starter.
After Davis returned to the dugout, home-plate umpire Mike Estabrook walked to Rays manager Joe Maddon and whispered that he'd never seen anything like it.
"[Davis] didn't say one word," Maddon said, laughing in his office after the game.
Such is the deadpan reality of Davis. There are few aspects in baseball he doesn't take seriously.
As the 24-year-old right-hander has emerged over the course of the past two weeks for Tampa Bay, the seriousness of his pitching ability has also rounded into focus. The fierceness of his breaking ball only matches the looks he gives when squinting over his glove on the mound.
His emergence creates a situation for Tampa Bay that has been anticipated for some time. But it wasn't expected to arrive this quickly with this much promise.
For Davis completes a trinity of rookie pitchers in Tampa Bay's rotation, with Price, Davis and Jeff Niemann -- each with distinctive skill sets, backgrounds and, most notably, personalities.
"They're the future," Rays outfielder Carl Crawford said.
As the season has begun drawing to a close, the rookie triumvirate has demonstrated its effectiveness. Since the start of September, the three have combined to go 3-3 with a 3.87 ERA.
And there is a building giddiness within the Rays clubhouse about what the potential may be in the near future.
"It's something we've started to talk about," Niemann said. "You can kind of see what's going on."
Assessing Tampa Bay's starting rotation this season comes with its caveats. Especially when considering the performances of the five pitchers who formed last year's starters.
The pitcher with the best stuff, Matt Garza, is 8-10. The one with the most experience, James Shields, is 10-11. The former ace, Scott Kazmir, had an ERA near 7.00 before being traded to the Angels in mid-August.
A 13-game winner last season, Andy Sonnanstine, has been ineffective and relegated to the bullpen. Another starter from last year, Edwin Jackson, has been stellar in 2009 -- for the Tigers -- after being traded to Detroit in the offseason.
But in the past month, the three rookies have become the year's silver lining. It's been the steady success from Niemann, the sudden breakthrough from Davis and the even progression from Price that have given teammates something to gush about.
"You just want to see that they belong here, that they are confident enough to pitch at this level," Rays catcher Dioner Navarro said. "I think at this point they've already proven that."
Their command of the clubhouse begins physically -- they're the three tallest members of the team. After that, the comparisons fork.
There's Davis, the no-nonsense gunslinger freshly called up from Triple-A Durham, who struck out six of the first seven batters he faced in his Major League debut and threw a shutout with 10 strikeouts two starts later.
There's Price, the hyped top prospect who has walked red carpets and shaken hands with President Obama, all before the age of 24.
And there's Niemann, the 6-foot-9 right-hander who has been overlooked all season as a quiet and unassuming leading American League Rookie of the Year candidate.
On the mound, they throw hard, work quickly, and don't possess the typical timidity that characterizes most rookies. And they've shown they can build off one another.
"They've got a good relationship," Navarro said. "That's huge. I think they feed from what the other person does. They pick nuggets up from each guy and they do the thing that they have to to be successful. And they've been doing pretty good."
As Price has hobbled through his first season as a starter, fighting through some early lumps and struggles, he turned to Niemann, who had several extra years of experience in the Minor Leagues and made the adjustment to the big leagues more easily. Lately, both have turned to Davis, who has flashed onto the scene and seemed to set the bar for what all three can accomplish.
"Wade does his thing and then boom, boom, boom, boom," Rays reliever J.P. Howell said. "And we're off and running."
Each pitcher was scouted, drafted and grown through the Rays' system, which can be a source of pride for them, much like several of the other core players for Tampa Bay. And neither necessarily has displayed any of the nerves or uneasiness that usually comes with a rookie season.
Price, the youngest at 24, has already pitched in close games in the American League Championship Series and World Series, and he's shown an affinity for rising to big occasions.
Davis and Niemann, both from the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, were seasoned in the Minor Leagues long enough to show that they were ready.
"Jeff got batted around a little bit before he got here, in regards to surviving injuries," Maddon said. "Wade just pitched and got here. I kind of like that a lot actually. They're two guys that could have some staying power. They're big guys with good arms and good stuff."
Maddon's excitement about how well each of the rookies has progressed is easily notable. After Price's last start against Toronto on Sunday -- in which he allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings to outduel Roy Halladay -- Maddon raved about what he called a "quantum leap" performance, in which Price took the next step in figuring out how to be effective beyond his 96-mph fastball.
Because Price is 6-2 with a 3.10 ERA since July, that's a scary notion.
"I've never seen him throw his curveball that often and that well," Maddon said. "If you see that breaking ball command, and then have his 93-95-mph fastball, that can be devastating."
Maddon already toyed around with the rotation for the next three weeks in order to ensure Davis gets three more starts.
The key now is keeping tabs on how much to extend them. Maddon believes each should be fine to close out the rest of the season. Niemann has thrown 165 2/3 innings, Price has thrown 140 2/3 (including at Triple-A Durham) and Davis 177 1/3 (including at Durham).
But as the season winds down, each appears to be getting stronger. And added to a rotation that already includes Shields and Garza -- both of whom have pitched better than their records indicate -- and there may be the budding of something truly formidable in Tampa Bay's future starting rotation.
"What these guys have done in a short period of time is really impressive," Maddon said. "It speaks well of our future."
Zach Schonbrun is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
