Royals' Duffy will start Opening Day

Last April, Danny Duffy was stuck in the Kansas City Royals' bullpen. Now, he's set to toss their first pitch in 2017.

To almost no one's surprise, the Royals officially named Duffy their Opening Day starter on Saturday; he'll take the hill at Target Field on April 3 when the Royals visit Minnesota. Duffy will be followed in the rotation by Ian Kennedy, Jason Hammel, Jason Vargas, and Nathan Karns - in that order - according to Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Times.

Duffy's Opening Day nod completes a remarkable turnaround for the 28-year-old that's seen him rise to the status of club ace. After shuttling between the rotation and bullpen during the Royals' world championship season in 2015, the southpaw began 2016 as a reliever before moving to the rotation in mid-May and never looking back. He parlayed that success into a five-year, $65-million extension from the Royals that was completed over the winter, along with a spot on Team USA at the World Baseball Classic.

Last season, Duffy posted a 3.51 ERA in 40 appearances - 26 of them starts - and struck out a career-best 188 batters. The native of Goleta, Calif., owns a career 36-33 record, 3.71 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and 540 strikeouts in 623 big-league innings.