Edinson Volquez Could Be Steal of MLB Offseason in Replacing James Shields

The thought was prevalent through the entire hot stove season.

Knowing the Kansas City Royals could not afford whatever price tag James Shields would eventually have attached to him, therefore losing their ace over the previous two seasons, the thought was the team had no realistic way of replacing their No. 1 starter.

Yordano Ventura was a potential budding star, and maybe Danny Duffy was finally ready to take on a lead role in the rotation. But based on budget and organizational resources, replacing Shields’ overall contributions seemed improbable for the Royals one offseason after winning the American League pennant.

So when they signed Edinson Volquez to a two-year, $20 million contract in December, it made only ripples in an ocean of massive offseason waves. From the Royals’ perspective, though, they believed in Volquez’s standout 2014 and viewed him as a guy who could solidify their rotation.

Through the first calendar month of this season, Volquez is looking like the steal of an offseason that had numerous blockbuster trades and signings.

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#Royals Edinson Volquez has a 1.86 ERA over his last 21 starts. Opponents are batting just .221/.301/.303 against him.

— Ace of MLB Stats (@AceballStats) April 28, 2015"

More recently, Volquez has a 1.91 ERA through his first four starts as a Royal. His 0.85 WHIP is the fourth lowest in the AL, and his 2.61 FIP is eighth.

Sure, he is currently serving a five-game suspension for his part in the Royals’ brawl with the Chicago White Sox last week, and yes, all four of his starts have come against the weak-hitting Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox.

But still, he’s done what a quality starter should do against those lineups. Volquez has allowed more than one earned run only once this season, and in that start in which he allowed three to the Twins, he was an out away from completing eight innings.

“He's going deep into games and throwing the ball very, very well,” Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters after Volquez’s second outing.

Volquez’s problem has always been command. When he is on, he’s capable of filthy stuff. But when he does not know where it’s going, it can lead to WHIP numbers in the 1.40-1.60 range as he gives up a good amount of hits and walks.

From 2010-2013, Volquez was among the worst in baseball at preventing baserunners. His WHIP in those seasons was 1.53, the third-worst number in the majors during those years. Making matters worse for Volquez was his 69.8 percent strand rate in that time, again one of the worst marks in the majors, according to FanGraphs.

So, when Volquez was allowing baserunners in those four seasons, he was not doing a good job of leaving them on base.

With the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2014, Volquez drastically improved his standing in both categories. His WHIP dropped to 1.23, and when he did allow hitters to reach, he stranded them 77.5 percent of the time.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

This season his strand rate has dropped back to previous levels, but his WHIP has also dropped drastically. He also has an 11.8 percent swinging-strike rate this season, which was fifth best in the AL going into Wednesday’s games, FanGraphs says. That mark is also his highest since 2010, when it was 13 percent.

Another change for Volquez is in his repertoire. He started throwing his curveball with a knuckle-curve grip last season with the Pirates. He has continued that trend at a higher occurrence this season, and opposing lineups are hitting .182 against it, according to BrooksBaseball.net.

Maybe it is not a coincidence then that Volquez also has a 2.61 FIP, which would be his career low in that category. It also says he is pitching well even without Kansas City’s vaunted defense behind him.

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I don't know about the rest of you, but I am *thoroughly* on board with The Edinson Volquez Experience. Hot damn he looks good.

— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) April 26, 2015"

Volquez has credited this resurgence to some mechanical fixes while in Pittsburgh but also to an overall upgrade in his preparation. Physically, Volquez got into bad delivery habits after he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2009.

According to Vahe Gregorian of The Kansas City Star, Volquez, 31, combed through video of himself throughout his career once he got to Pittsburgh and determined he needed to get back to the basic mechanics of his younger days.

“We’re trying to get his delivery consistent,” Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage told KDKA radio in Pittsburgh last year. “It’s a reconstruction, really, right now. Not only physically, in the delivery, but also mentally.”

There are plenty of recent trends that have transformed Volquez from a once-promising disappointment to an effective front-line starter. If he keeps them up, the Royals will not have missed James Shields one bit.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.