Davis Daniel (baseball)

Robert Davis Daniel (born June 11, 1997) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career
Daniel attended Saint James School in Montgomery, Alabama. He committed to play college baseball at North Carolina State University as a sophomore, but later switched his commitment to Auburn University. In 2016, as a senior, he went 11–1 with a 0.70 ERA and 137 strikeouts over seventy innings. He was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 34th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign and enrolled at Auburn.

In 2017, Daniel's freshman year at Auburn, he appeared in 17 games (making 16 starts) in which he went 4–3 with a 5.89 ERA over $70 1⁄3$ innings. The next season, he pitched $66 2⁄3$ innings, striking out seventy batters and pitching to a 4.86 ERA. Following the season's end, he was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 11th round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft but did not sign. In 2017, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and returned to the league in 2018 with the Chatham Anglers. As a junior in 2019, Daniel was Auburn's Opening Night starter and pitched two innings before being removed with an arm injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery and forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

Professional career
The Los Angeles Angels selected Daniel in the seventh round of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft, and he signed with the team. He did not play in 2019 after signing, and did not play a game in 2020 due to cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He made his professional debut in 2021 with the Tri-City Dust Devils of the High-A West and was promoted to the Rocket City Trash Pandas of the Double-A South in late June. In early September, he was promoted to the Salt Lake Bees of the Triple-A West. Over 23 games (22 starts) between the three teams, Daniel went 4–7 with a 3.92 ERA and 154 strikeouts over $114 2⁄3$ innings. He returned to Salt Lake to begin the 2022 season.

On June 11, 2022, the Angels selected Daniel's contract and promoted him to the major leagues. He was optioned back to Salt Lake two days later without making an appearance. He played in the minor leagues with Salt Lake the remainder of the season, going 6–7 with a 4.49 ERA and 83 strikeouts over $102 1⁄3$ innings.

On February 16, 2023, Daniel was placed on the 60-day injured list with a right shoulder strain. He was activated from the injured list on August 31 and subsequently optioned to Triple–A Salt Lake.

Daniel was optioned to Triple–A Salt Lake to begin the 2024 season.