Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers ’17 — #27 Zach Davies

27 days…sounds like the start of a movie title…

Outside of 19 (for Yount-related reasons), the number 27 has long been my number in all things baseball. I pay attention to players around the league who wear 27 and had a weird affinity for Brady Clark just because of his number. There’s a reason which you might know if you know me personally, but I’m not here to get into that today.

Instead, let’s just go ahead and jump into the profile of the current wearer of #27 for the Milwaukee Brewers…

Zach Davies.

By now you probably know Davies’ backstory on how he came to be a member of the Brewers organization. If not, here’s the short version: Davies was acquired in a trade with the Baltimore Orioles during the 2015 season in return for outfielder Gerardo Parra.

Davies, listed at 6'0" and 155 pounds, was considered an undersized pitcher who perhaps didn’t have a future with the Orioles. He was a 26th round pick, after all. And while Parra was ending a great run in Milwaukee, he wasn’t exactly super valuable considering all the circumstances. Still, you can never have too much starting pitching.

That was then.

Sure, Davies hasn’t grown much in physical stature, but he’s grown leaps and bounds in public perception. After he made his Major League debut as a September call-up in 2015, Davies has posted a big league line containing a 3.92 ERA and 2.7 WAR. That’s a pitcher on the right trajectory.

Earlier this spring, his manager, Craig Counsell, told reporters that Davies’ control and command of four different pitches was “elite” level. That’s not a word to be used lightly and one that isn’t such by a former big league stalwart like Counsell.

Counsell is a two-time World Series champion and a man who has played behind and against a number of baseball’s all-time great pitchers. His are words that should carry weight.

In 2016, Davies finished as a better-than-league-average starter as evidenced by a 107 ERA+. There is always room for improvement — Davies is humble enough to point that out himself — but improvement is exactly what Davies experienced throughout the year.

After not breaking camp on the big league roster, Davies was recalled from the minors almost immediately due to an injury suffered by Matt Garza. A combination of factors may have ultimately contributed, but Davies got off to a terrible start in 2016. In three April starts, Davies would lose all three and pitch to an 8.78 ERA in just 13.1 innings pitched. Davies’ results numbers would drastically improve each of the next three months, culminating in a 1.71 ERA across four July starts. July, coincidentally, was his second consecutive month with a sub-1.000 WHIP.

But the story of Davies’ 2016 wasn’t all about the numbers. There was the All-Star break adjacent demotion, subsequent agent squawking, and “considerations” being made. There was also the weird scheduling quirks which saw Davies pitch just once on the road in the month of June. (Davies ended up with 18 home starts against 10 on the road in 2016.)

The numbers are impressive though. Even with two awful August turns (back-to-back, coincidentally) in which Davies allowed 12 combined earned runs in 9.0 IP, he still finished the 2016 season with a 3.97 ERA.

Heading into 2017, the outlook is much different from this same time last year. Counsell has said this Spring that Davies is locked into a rotation spot (along with 2016 revelation Junior Guerra). Still just 24 years old, Davies is only getting better.

He certainly relies on his control and command as he fastball tops out in the low-90s, and anyone reliant of those elements will struggle at times when they don’t have their feel for whatever reason. That said, Davies is still trending upward and has made believers of talent evaluators, including the most important one who makes the rotation, that he has more ceiling to reach.

2017 will be the continuation of that maturation. It should be very fun to watch.

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Follow Zach on Twitter: @ZDavies3

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Looking to catch up on this season’s BBtJN? Just click on a name below:

#59 Carlos Torres
#57 Chase Anderson
#56 Ryan Webb
#54 Michael Blazek
#53 Jhan Mariñez
#52 Jimmy Nelson
#51 Damien Magnifico
#50 Jacob Barnes
#47 Jett Bandy
#46 Corey Knebel
#45 Tyler Cravy
#41 Junior Guerra
#38 Wily Peralta
#37 Neftalí Feliz
#35 Brent Suter
#33 Tommy Milone
#29 Yadiel Rivera
#28 Jorge Lopez