Royals Links: Dayton Moore, Yordano Ventura, MLB Draft, & More

Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

This has been…well, let’s call it an eventful week for the Royals. They changed hitting coaches without firing anyone. They recalled Mike Moustakas. They promoted Wilking Rodriguez. They split a road series with the red-hot Blue Jays, despite Aaron Brooks allowing approximately 464 batters to reach base in his spot start. And last night, the Royals dominated a Cardinals team most people expected to contend for a championship this season. Baseball’s a fun game. You know what else is fun? Reading some Royals-related stories from the last several days. Here are links to a few of those stories.

– Rany Jazayerli wrote a guest piece for the Kansas City Star, and he suggests this team’s struggles all fall at the feet of Dayton Moore. He stops short of calling for Moore’s job, although the author does say the team’s General Manager has had more than enough time to field a playoff team, and if things don’t turn around soon, changes could be merited.

– Darin Watson of Pine Tar Press wrote a nice article on the Northwest Arkansas Naturals after he took in a couple of games a week ago. Watson thought Orlando Calixte was very impressive, and he also liked what he saw from Micah Gibbs defensively. The Naturals aren’t having a good season, but there is a bit of talent down there.

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– According to a report from Jeffrey Flanagan of FOX Sports Kansas City, Yordano Ventura‘s bullpen session went well, and he appears ready to make his next scheduled start on Thursday. Ventura felt no discomfort, which is obviously tremendous news. That game will feature Ventura and Michael Wacha, so every baseball fan should tune in for that one.

– With the MLB Draft starting on Thursday, Royals Review’s KCTiger collected some mock draft selections from around the electronic pages of the internet. Many speculate the organization will take Kodi Medeiros with their 28th overall pick, although thoughts on the 17th overall pick are slightly more scattered.. Medeiros is a leftt-handed high school pitcher from Hawaii.

– At the Hardball Times, Jake Mintz wrote about the history of the eephus pitch. The floating and unpredictable pitch hasn’t been used very frequently by anyone not named Vicente Padilla, but Mintz wonders if it could become a respectable offering in today’s game of flame-throwing pitchers. I know I always smile when I see an eephus basically glide through the air and across the plate, but it’s hard to believe major league hitters wouldn’t destroy that pitch if they see it with any regularity.