Royals’ Signing of Matt Duffy Adds Competition and Depth to Infield
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Coming off a struggle-filled 2022 campaign, the Kansas City Royals are looking to foster the continued growth of their young players in an effort to make a sizable leap in 2023. Surrounding that young talent with suitable depth, though, has been a major focus of this offseason.
Starting with the pitching side of things, the additions of players such as Ryan Yarbrough, Jordan Lyles, Aroldis Chapman and Josh Taylor could help take some pressure off other arms in the starting rotation and bullpen. On the hitting and fielding fronts, Kansas City recently signed Matt Beaty and Johan Camargo to minor-league contracts with potential opportunities to earn big-league playing time this coming season. Their infield picture, even after trading Adalberto Mondesi to the Boston Red Sox, is starting to fill up quickly.
Friday's signing of Matt Duffy to a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training adds even more competition and depth to the picture.
Duffy, who turned 32 in mid-January, is now set to join the fifth team of his major league career. In 77 games last season with the Los Angeles Angels, he experienced one of his worst campaigns ever. Across 247 plate appearances, Duffy slashed .250/.308/.311 with two home runs, 16 RBIs and a 78 wRC+. His walk rate (6.9%) was the lowest it's been since 2016, and his 20.2% strikeout rate was the highest it had been since his rookie season back in 2014. With that said, Duffy did post a 104 wRC+ in 2021 and showed a lot more life with the Chicago Cubs than he did in Los Angeles.
At the plate, Duffy has historically performed better against righties (career .724 OPS compared to .676 against lefties) by collecting hits more often and showing a bit better power. Last season, however, he fared much better when facing left-handed pitching. His 90 wRC+ against lefties was much better than his 70 mark against righties, and his difference in ISO (.120 vs. .022) was also significant. He's never offered much power at the plate but is known for keeping his strikeouts in check. With that percentage climbing in each of the last four seasons, though, it's something to keep an eye on.
Defensively, Duffy is capable of playing multiple positions. In 2021, the Cubs used him at first base, second base, shortstop, third base and left field. With the Angels last year, he logged 328.2 innings at the hot corner while also spending just over 122 innings at first base and 75 innings at second base. Per Baseball Savant, his respective Outs Above Average figures at those spots were -1, -1 and 0, respectively.
A 2022 trend that may be cause for concern with Duffy is that, per Savant, he hit the ball in the air too often. Considering his profile as someone who doesn't hit the ball very hard and doesn't drive it, Duffy's career-highs in launch angle (9.9°) and fly-ball percentage (25.8) didn't help him. He got under the ball at a 24.2% clip and while that generally falls in line with the rest of baseball, Duffy's career average is 18.5%. Fastballs were the main cause of this, as he posted a launch angle of 12° in 2022 after having a 6° figure against them in 2021. That partially contributed to his batting average against four-seamers dropping from .327 to .226 year-over-year. Duffy's swing/take profile was also dreadful in the heart and shadow of the plate.
It's clear that Duffy has his shortcomings as a player. He doesn't have terrific on-base skills, his speed is a non-factor and the traits he's been able to hang his hat on in the past weren't quite as sharp in his age-31 season. On the other hand, it's likely too early for Father Time to be paying Duffy a visit. He's motivated and has a track record of following up lackluster seasons with quality ones. For him, signing with the Royals gives him a low-pressure chance to possibly compete with other veterans for reps at third base. For the Royals, this signing gives them more players to look at during spring training and also, having someone else who can play multiple infield positions never hurts. Low-risk investments like this one typically make sense on the off chance that things do end up panning out.
