Why Daniel Lynch IV is striking out more Royals opponents

Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch IV has transformed into one of the team’s top high-leverage relievers this season. The key to his breakout: revisiting old college film and offseason training that helped him nearly double his strikeout rate.

FULL STORY: Southpaw Surge: How Daniel Lynch IV’s past unlocked his future with the Royals

Here are key takeaways:

• Lynch has nearly doubled his strikeouts-per-nine rate this season, jumping from 6.0 to 11.0. He had posted 18 strikeouts and just four walks in 14 ⅔ innings across 14 games.
• The Royals asked Lynch to focus on generating more strikeouts after his transition to the bullpen in 2024, when he posted a 3.06 ERA in 57 games.
• Lynch trained at Maven Baseball in Atlanta this offseason, where co-founder Sean McLaughlin identified mechanical issues making him “too rotational” in his delivery.
• The fix involved returning to an old move from his University of Virginia days — getting his glove higher in the air to stay balanced through his motion.
• Teammate Matt Strahm helped Lynch pitch exclusively from the stretch and embrace a strikeout mindset focused on attacking hitters.
• Before last Wednesday’s action, Lynch had held opponents to a .100 batting average (5-for-50), fourth-best in the majors, and recorded his first save May 3 against the Seattle Mariners.
• Lynch is averaging 94 mph with his sinker and four-seam fastball and ranks in the 94th percentile with a 32.7 strikeout percentage, per Statcast.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.