Tucker Davidson's Tuesday Start: Observations, How It Impacts His Projected Role
Tucker Davidson produced positive results in his second career start Tuesday night. The effect on his report and projected role, however, did not change much.
The 25-year-old allowed three runs on five hits in six innings, walking one and striking out five. He backed up what has been a strong start to his overall season, allowing one run on seven hits and three walks with 14 strikeouts in 14 innings at Triple-A Gwinnett before the call-up.
I have Davidson’s role as a back-end starter or late-inning reliever. It’s a bit of a cop out to use this role, but it’s meant to show that Davidson is on the fringe of being a long-term starter while possessing a realistic fallback option of relief.
His start Tuesday left a similar impression. The stuff flashes when he hits 94 up in the zone with riding life and pairs it with an upper-80s slider with downward tilt and late bite. When everything is tight and lively, he has swing-and-miss stuff and has the makings of a starter. But the stuff comes and goes, sometimes throwing a lifeless 92 on the knees that goes out for a home run or losing the tight spin on the slider and spinning it over the plate at 85. The curveball is above average, but he needs the slider to be the whiff pitch off the fastball.
The fastball flashed above average and sat solid average at 91-94, t95. It flashed above when it showed late carry up in the zone that produced late swings and poor contact despite the average velocity. He has to work up with that life, because anything at the knees lacks life and tends to get knocked around. This has been an issue for a while and continues to be a thing.
Davidson’s slider was his best pitch at 84-89, t90. It was mostly above average with good spin and flashed late, two-plane break. The shape differed at times between getting on the side and sweeping high, and breaking downward and late at the knees. He occasionally lost spin on it to produce more of a fringe offering, but the pitch has come a long way in a short amount of time to flash as a swing-and-miss pitch. It lacks the bite to be a plus pitch, but it’s a solid secondary off the high four-seamer.
The 78-81 curveball has traditionally been Davidson’s best pitch. It showed above average with the depth and downward tilt. It still lacks the consistency to be a plus pitch and was used as more of a change of pace in this start, but it’s a solid change off the harder slider, especially as a first-pitch strike.
The slider has been a difference-maker for Davidson. He needed it to get hitters off the fastball and curveball, and it has developed very well into something he can use in two-strike counts to get whiffs and weak contact while also helping to speed up the four-seamer. He showed solid command of all his pitches in this outing, which has been a trend now through three starts this season. I have his overall command at 45, but it played above that Tuesday.
The results were strong, and I’m happy that Davidson experienced success at the big league level. One might look at the results and assume a long-term starter in Davidson. The outing, however, showed me more of the same from the past couple seasons. The stuff is major league quality for sure. He could become a very good reliever to mask the inconsistent life on his stuff. In order to be a long-term starter, he needs to find consistency in the life of his pitches multiple times through a lineup. He’s going to get opportunities to prove he can do it.