The Colorado Rockies have signed closer Wade Davis according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. This offseason the Rockies have already signed relievers Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw.
Passan reports the deal is for three-years, $52 million with a $14 million vesting option for a fourth season.
Davis, 32, spent the ’17 season with the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, his first season playing in the National League. The transition was seamless as he appeared in 59 games, posting a 2.30 ERA over 58.2 innings pitched.
Davis converted 32 saves before blowing his one and only on September 23 against the Milwaukee Brewers, and broke the Cubs’ franchise consecutive saves mark, bypassing Ryan Dempster who held it with 26. Davis posted the 4th best Wins Probability Added in the National League (3.34) behind only Kenley Jansen, Corey Knebel, and Brad Hand. While walks were up for Davis this year, (11.6 BB%), his strikeout totals were still holding strong at 32.6 K% (2nd highest of his career).
His swinging strike percentage was a career best 15.4% this past season, and batters made contact on just 67.5% of all Davis’ pitches, good for 17th best among all relievers in the majors. While his average four-seam fastball saw a slight decrease in velocity from 2016 to ’17 (95.35 to 94.71), he utilized his sinker, cutter, and curveball more and generated the 8th best soft hit percentage among relievers (28.0%).
For his career, Davis has continuously posted strong splits against both right and left handed batters. In ’17, Davis posted fantastic numbers against lefties: .156/.264/.229 with a 2.85 strikeout-to-walk ratio. His numbers against righties were solid: .211/.313/.377, though, the five homers he allowed to right-handed hitters made the difference in the stark slugging percentage differences.
