PCL: Davies' refresher course

It's hard to define, this thing called command.

All pitchers seek it, but it isn't simply a matter of putting in your time.

“It's practice, practice, practice in other sports, but in baseball you have to do the least to get the best,” said Omaha pitching coach Tom Burgmeier. “Because you can't throw 100 pitches every day. It's a mindset. It's being aggressive.”

Kyle Davies is back in Omaha, pitching in Class AAA after opening the season as Kansas City's No. 3 starter.

Take one guess what Davies is seeking to find.

“One of these days my fastball command has to be consistent, and it's got to get better,” he said.

Davies started this stretch in Omaha in, shall we say, commanding fashion, with 14 consecutive scoreless innings — eight in a victory over Memphis, then six more against Albuquerque.

But that's not necessarily as good as it can get.

“The first (start), he was very good,” Burgmeier said. “The second, the results were just as good, but the command was below average. He knows that, too. He had success, but at a different (major league) level, I don't think the results would be the same. The pitcher, when he lets it go, knows if it (the pitch) is good or bad.”

Davies, who allowed one run on three hits over five innings Sunday at Oklahoma City to improve to 3-0 with an 0.47 ERA, doesn't disagree.

“There's still stuff to get better at,” Davies said. “I've been walking some guys that I shouldn't.”

Davies didn't disagree, either, with the Royals' decision to option him to Class AAA. He was 3-7 with a 5.76 ERA in 14 starts for Kansas City, and was sent down after allowing eight runs — seven earned — in 2.2 innings against St. Louis on June 19.

“I wasn't pitching very well, and understandably you need to be sent down if you're not pitching well,” Davies said.

Davies has walked 41 batters while striking out 54 for Kansas City this season, producing unfavorable ratios in walks per nine innings (4.6) and walks-to-strikeouts.

“Sometimes the indicator isn't necessarily how many you've walked, it's deep counts, 3-and-2,” Burgmeier said. “You're throwing more pitches, obviously there's a chance to make more mistakes. Throw it high in the big leagues, they'll kill you. Not every day, but usually.”

Davies, 25, appeared to have turned a career corner last season, when he was 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA in September for Kansas City. He pitched seven shutout innings, striking out eight, in his first start this year and had a 2.89 ERA over his first three starts.

But things started slipping away.

“That's why baseball is a perfect game — you can have it one minute and lose it the next,” Davies said.

Kansas City catcher John Buck, in Omaha last week on a rehabilitation assignment, was behind the plate for Davies' second start and likes what he's done since being sent down.

“He's getting ahead of people and throwing quality stuff,” Buck said. “And it's never a question of stuff with him. If he does what he's doing now in the big leagues, he'll be in good shape.”

That's about the only report Davies is getting from anybody out of Kansas City, he said. A return trip to the minor leagues is an experience of self-discovery, if not self-recovery.

“It's tough because you develop a relationship with those guys, but it's more about me right now,” Davies said. “Getting myself the best I can be; that's the only thing that I can control.”

Davies, named by Baseball America the best player in the country at his age as both a 14- and 15-year-old, got to the big leagues at 21 with Atlanta and was 7-6 with a 4.93 ERA. A groin injury knocked him off track the following season, and he still hasn't spent a full season in the majors. Overall he is 29-42 with a 5.65 ERA in the majors.

He had a mildly surprising refresher course in Omaha last year, too, going 6-2 with a Pacific Coast League-best 2.02 ERA to start the season. The Royals called him up May 31, and he made only one other minor league appearance the rest of the season.

“I just need to get to where I can be successful as a major league pitcher,” Davies said. “I am better than I was last year.”

Davies said he's just tried to clear his mind since getting sent down this year, and to be aggressive.

“You don't have to be perfect,” he said. “You start by throwing the ball over the plate and go from there. Hit the catcher's mitt. It's that easy.”

Does what he's doing here translate to the major leagues?

“There's no real way to tell until you get up there,” Davies said. “You're not going to find out pitching here. You try to get your confidence up and find command.”

Contact the writer:

444-1027, rob.white@owh.com