Easy decision for Daniel
AUBURN | Davis Daniel was drafted by the Chicago Cubs out of high school and by the Milwaukee Brewers following his sophomore season.
Both times the hard-throwing right-hander picked Auburn instead.
“Davis Daniel has given up the draft two times and there’s nothing more that this man wants to be than a major league ball player,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “He sees the value in this journey at Auburn helping to attain that.
“It’s his third time to be eligible for the draft and how he works everyday is at a pretty high level. He’s pretty sincere about this whole deal.”
By returning for his junior season, Daniel can move closer to a degree in business and potentially move higher than the 11th round where the Brewers picked him in June.
“In the end, it was a pretty easy decision,” Daniel said. “There was a lot of times when we didn’t really know what was on the table and what wasn’t, but in the end, when it came down to the decision, it was pretty easy. This is where I wanted to be, we just had some waiting around to do to figure it all out.”
Daniel was 3-4 with a 4.86 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 66.2 innings as a sophomore but that’s only part of the story. He was 2-4 with 4.89 ERA in 10 starts, but really hit his stride with a midseason move to the bullpen.
In his last six relief appearances, Daniel had a 2.43 ERA with 25 strikeouts and seven walks in 18.1 innings. That includes a masterful performance in the rubber game of the Gainesville Super Regional, holding No. 1 overall seed Florida to one hit with six strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
“In the first year and a half or almost two years, I had some good outings, but I wouldn’t really say looking back at those good starts I was like ‘Man, that was it. That’s what clicked,’” Daniel said. “Whereas, that game in Gainesville and the last couple weeks of the season, there was a couple of things that really clicked.
“That’s something I can build off of. I’m really excited to get into this year and continue to build on those things that are really working for me.”
It starts with Daniel’s fastball, which was hitting 95, 96 and up the last half of the season and helped him post a 2.29 ERA in four appearances in the Cape Cod League this summer.
Daniel is joined by sophomores Tanner Burns and Cody Greenhill to give Auburn a strong trio of pitchers to anchor the 2019 team.
“It gives us a lot of confidence, for the team and for us three,” Daniel said. “For a whole staff, having some guys that have the experience and know how to attack this league, especially with the kind of fire that the three of us bring to the field, it’s really exciting.”
Auburn will host two exhibition games this fall — Western Carolina Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. CT and Samford Nov. 2 at 5 p.m. The Tigers open the 2019 season Feb. 15-17 against Georgia Southern at Plainsman Park.