A lot can change in a month and the Royals are a good example of that. The pitching has been excellent the bats…well they’ve done enough to get the team back around .500.

We talked about the Royals solid homestand and the dominance of the pitching staff, the influence of George Brett, and just how you go from an 8-20 May to storming right back towards even.

Also, we checked around the minors for updates on Danny Duffy‘s rehab, Yordano Ventura‘s Omaha performance, and Cheslor Cuthbert‘s promotion. Jarrod Dyson is in Omaha rehabbing so we tried to guess at what the Royals will do when he returns.

Finally, we wrapped up with some brief talk about the MLB Draft, Wil Myers being called up by the Rays, and walk-off win shenanigans (including Rally Sauce). Keep an ear out for Name Drop Bingo, as well.

[Can also find a player here.]

The Kansas City Baseball Vault is a weekly podcast that covers the Royals, their minor league affiliates and other aspects of baseball in Kansas City.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

Wil Myers will eventually be the Royals right fielder. Well, someday, right? (Credit: Mindy Haas)

Wil Myers will make his Major League debut on Tuesday in Boston after being called up by the Tampa Bay Rays.

For many Royals fans, it’s a year too late, and in the wrong uniform on top of it, but no matter what the past was, in the present, Wil Myers is a Ray and getting his first taste of big league ball this afternoon.

As one of three Royals prospects to be named Minor League Player of the Year, Myers represents one of the bigger developmental successes in Royals history, but now, he has to prove it in the Show. I think he will and I wish he’d be with the Royals while he did so. But that’s not how things worked out and now, it’s time for closure.

So to celebrate, here’s a timeline of our journey with Myers as a Royal.

2009

• It started as so many pro careers do, when the Royals selected Myers in the third round of the 2009 MLB Draft.
• Myers and the Royals agreed to terms. Myers represented a case of the Royals investing in players who dropped due to fear of their bonus demands.

2010

• Myers made the Midwest League All-Star Team.
• In July, Myers earned a promotion to High A Wilmington. At the time, Myers was drawing praise as perhaps the best hitting and power hitting prospect in the entire Royals organization.
• That August, the first whispers about moving Myers from behind the plate popped up.
• Myers started to get top overall prospect buzz.
• He was also named the Low A player of the year by the organization.
• He came in at #1 in our first ever prospect rankings.

2011

• Just before Myers was moved to the outfield, we looked at comparisons to him as a catcher.
• Then he was officially moved to the outfield.
• Myers cracked Baseball America’s top 20 overall prospects.
• We put him at #2 in our second year of prospect rankings, just behind Eric Hosmer. Trust me, it was a close decision.
• Myers was named to the All-Star Futures Game representing Team USA.
• Foreshadowing: Two years ago, we discussed the idea of Myers as the key part to a trade for a top starting pitcher.
• Myers was tabbed to go to the Arizona Fall League after a disappointing 2011 where he fought some nagging injuries in Double A.
• September 2011: More foreshadowing, this time presenting the possibility of a Myers for James Shields trade.
• Myers rolled through the AFL and ended up being one of the standouts. His performance put any concerns over his 2011 regular season to rest.

July 8, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; USA player Christian Yelich (left) is congratulated by teammate Wil Myers (1) after scoring a run during the sixth inning of the 2012 All Star Futures Game at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

2012

• We aimed high, projecting Myers to crack Omaha’s opening day roster.
• His track record got him an invite to spring training.
• He was an intriguing player in Surprise as fans started to count down the days until he’d reach Kansas City.
• Kevin Goldstein, then of Baseball Prospectus, ranked Myers at the top of the Royals prospects he put in his top 101.
• As the 2012 season approached, Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, and Jeff Francoeur looked to be a solid trio in the outfield, leaving the question in the air: Where did Wil Myers fit?
• Myers opened up his Double A season with 14 extra base hits in April.
• By the end of May, he was already making the move up to Omaha.
• Just a reminder that Myers doesn’t wear batting gloves. I love it. Kevin Scobee hates it.
• On a night when Myers hit a grand slam off Roy Oswalt, we looked at the logistics behind a callup. Francoeur’s contract and Super Two qualifications stood in the way.
• Myers changed his approach to be more aggressive in all counts and was swinging for the fences. That led to some concern, even while it was clear that he was earning a look at the big league level.
• For the second year in a row – this time in Kansas City – Myers was named to the All-Star Futures Game.
• By this time, Myers was crushing Triple A and Francoeur was struggling. The #FreeWil movement was growing. We took a look at the potential of trading Francoeur to open a spot for Myers.
• Myers was one of the standouts at the Futures Game during All-Star Weekend. We discussed his performance from the Flying Saucer in KC right after the game.
• At this stage, Francoeur was becoming a symbol of the organization’s stubbornness, but it was also getting so late into a lost year that many were becoming resigned that Myers wouldn’t reach the majors in 2012 just to save service time.
• Then they started to play Myers at third base on occasion in Omaha.
• The Royals named Myers their player of the year and he also got the same honor from Baseball America and USA Today.
• Despite that, he wasn’t a September callup.

Offseason Rumors

• Bringing the James Shields rumors back up in November.
• Jeff Passan reported that the Royals were actively shopping Myers for a frontline starter.
• The potential future years of top performance made Myers too valuable as a trade chip so we looked at alternatives.
• Kevin Scobee argued that the Royals were mistakenly looking to trade what they felt was depth, but that trading Myers for pitching would leave the offense struggling.
• The Winter Meetings came and went and Wil Myers was still a Royal. Reported rumors of a Myers for Shields trade heated up but ultimately the Royals didn’t make a move in Nashville.
• Days after the meetings wrapped up, though, the Royals finally pulled the trigger.
• There were plenty of reactions as we all processed the deal. Some were on board. Some wanted to move on.
• Then came the analysis in a post-Myers world. It’s arguably the biggest trade in Royals history. If it gets them into the playoffs in the next two years, there won’t be a question about it.
• Once spring training started, reports came out that the Royals almost missed out on (or were nearly spared from?) the deal. That’s a big “What if?” to look back on in a couple of years.

And here we are now. Myers takes his first steps into a big league batter’s box today, and the story continues, but in a different setting.

Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Royals’ pitchers have allowed 249 runs to score this season. Of those 249 runs, 43 have been allowed in the first inning. That is over 17% of the total, in roughly 11% of the innings. Obviously the numbers show the starters have been getting off to rough starts, which isn’t that surprising if you’ve watched many games this season. What you may not know is that of those 43 first inning runs, 8 have been unearned. For whatever reason, the league’s best defense (according to UZR) has been pretty bad in the first innings of games. The 35 earned runs give the starters a first inning ERA of 4.63. The next worst inning the starters have had problems in is the third, in which Royals pitchers have surrendered 34 runs, 32 of which were earned, good for an ERA of 4.24. See the table below for a breakdown of the rest of the innings.

Overall, the pitching staff has been solid, with the exception of a couple of innings. To give you a better idea of who are the biggest culprits when it comes to digging holes in that troublesome first inning, I decided to look at each starter’s numbers.

Shields has been the worst in the first inning this year, followed by Santana. Guthrie and Davis have been very good, although the defense has let Davis down, much like they’ve let him down in the rest of his innings.  Santana’s high ERA appears to be an issue of allowing too many hits – 18 of them, to be exact – but only 3 of them have gone for extra bases, meaning teams have mostly strung together singles to get runs across the plate. The Royals may know a thing or two about that.

For me, Shields is the most interesting case. The television broadcasts have mentioned his first inning struggles several times this year. He’s allowed 3 home runs in first innings, while allowing 5 home runs in all of the other innings combined. His strikeout to walk ratio in the first is 1.67, which is his lowest ratio of any inning. He’s allowed 20 hits and 32 total bases in first innings. Prior to last night’s game, the next closest totals were 14 hits and 21 total bases in the third and fifth innings, respectively.

But what is it that is causing Shields to have so many difficulties in that first inning? My initial thought was to dismiss it as nothing more than a 15 inning small sample size. To some degree, that is fair, since I’d expect the ERA for that inning to go down as the year goes on. However, that pattern of starting poorly seems to be a common thread throughout his career. In 232 career first innings, Shields has surrendered 110 earned runs, which gives him a 4.27 ERA in that initial frame. His overall career ERA is 3.81, so not a huge difference, but he does seem to have a habit of getting in trouble early only to settle in and not allow much more the rest of the game. The only somewhat reasonable explanation for this that I can come up with is that Shields is a very intense guy, and he may just come out a little too fired up in those first innings, which could possibly lead to him serving up too many hittable pitches. After that initial adrenaline kick wears off, he settles down and does a better job of locating and mixing his pitches.

I don’t have any statistical evidence to prove that hypothesis, and I am fully aware that saying his struggles are more of a mental issue goes against my typically analytic method of evaluation. But since I don’t have the time (or, quite frankly, the energy) to dig through hundreds of games worth of pitch-by-pitch data, I’ll just run with it. If the front office can make claims without having any empirical evidence to support them, I think I can take some liberty with this one.

The Royals have been fortunate that their top 2 starters have been able to settle down after poor first innings, however. Shields and Santana have combined to allow 21 earned runs in their first innings, but have only allowed 1 earned run total in their second frames. A struggling offense like the Royals have can’t afford to get in too deep of a hole too early. They have come back from 5 runs down, but that isn’t something I’d bank on happening very often with this lineup.

Obviously we’d like to see the Royals not fall behind at all in the first inning, but if they do, it’s nice to have pitchers who won’t completely melt down after early struggles. This rotation is a welcome change from past years’ versions in that regard, and as long as they limit the damage in the first innings, then they’ll continue to give the offense more opportunities to come back and win games.

Omaha lost their series finale in Iowa this afternoon by a 2-0 score.

The Storm Chasers actually out-hit the Cubs 5-4, but all five hits were singles. They went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, hit into two double plays, and struck out eight times.

Iowa’s two runs came via two solo homeruns: one in the 5th inning with two outs off starter (and loser) Justin Marks and the other off lefty reliever Donnie Joseph in the eighth. Marks allowed just three hits over six innings. He struck out six.

NW Arkansas ended their first half with a three game winning streak, as they beat Arkansas, 5-2.

Despite allowing another homerun, Jason Adam FINALLY picked up his first win of the season (and his first Double-A victory). He allowed two runs on eight hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out six. Scott Alexander picked up his first save of the season with three scoreless innings (though he did walk three and hit a batter).

The ball must have been flying out of the ballpark, as the Travelers hit one and the Naturals hit three. Matt Fields hit his first homerun of the game in the 2nd inning to give them the lead. Brett Eibner (2-for-4) hit a solo shot in the fifth to give them a 2-0 lead. Clinging to a 3-2 lead in the 8th inning. Fields connected for his second homerun of the game, this time a two-run shot. It was his 18th of the season.

Jun 2, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Kansas City Royals hitting coach George Brett (5) smiles in the dugout during the game against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals have won 13 games in the 18 since George Brett was brought in as the hitting coach. The knee jerk reaction is that Brett, a Hall of Famer and the best third baseman ever (if you allow my bias to creep in) turned the sluggish Royals offense around and now, combined with competent pitching, they’re combining to recover from a terrible May.

By now, Sam Mellinger has weighed in and pointed out that the offense hasn’t performed better with Brett around. Instead, the Royals have seen excellent pitching and defense and that’s the source of their winning.

But that’s not to say that Brett’s efforts have been in vain. I think seeing a legend in the dugout every day, passing on advice and showing how he did it can have a positive impact on a club. When he talks, he has the resume that few others have, so they ought to listen. If the players don’t listen to George Brett, who will they listen to?

So I looked at how the Royals have done since Brett took over. I went on the assumption that a hitting coach can affect change quickly but that it’s probably going to be seen among individuals more than over the whole group. His biggest targets need to be Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, obviously, but everyone can have things to work on.

Here’s where everyone was on the last day of the Maloof Era:

In that stretch, they’d averaged four runs a game.

From May 30th to the present, after Brett stepped in, they’ve averaged 3.78 runs per game.

Six batters have improved. Six have declined. Chris Getz has been about the same and Jarrod Dyson has been in Omaha on a rehab assignment.

But look at the names who improved their OPS:

• Eric Hosmer
• Billy Butler
• Salvador Perez
• Lorenzo Cain
• Jeff Francoeur
• Elliot Johnson

Four of those six are key parts of the lineup, in fact, since the Royals rearranged the batting order, those are your 2 through 5 batters most nights. Johnson has at least earned a split, if not a majority of the playing time at second, and Francoeur has hit two homers since Brett arrived while ceding time to David Lough.

The names who fell back (by OPS):

• Alex Gordon
• Mike Moustakas
• David Lough
• Alcides Escobar
• Miguel Tejada
• George Kottaras

Kottaras and Tejada aren’t big concerns. Kottaras has played in just four games and he’s facing a small sample size problem. He still hasn’t been good, but whatever he does is just a bonus since Perez will play most nights. Tejada has played more frequently and pinch hit a number of times, but he had a great start before Brett, and really only saw a significant drop in his slugging numbers.

Lough was at a .918 OPS before Brett and while I like Lough as a fourth outfielder type, he’s not a .918 OPS player, so he could only come down. Similarly, Alex Gordon was hitting .340/.379/.502 before Brett, so he was also due to fall a bit. Now, he’s been very bad since Brett got there, so is that a problem due to Brett or is that just a slump? He’s had iffy pitch selection and pitchers are living down and away on him. He hasn’t made the adjustment, but of these six, he’s the least worrisome player and he’s still walking, so I don’t think he’s lost up there.

Johnson specifically mentioned working with Brett as a key to his upsurge in Tampa (I think some personal fire was involved too, but he still got the swings working for him). He may not be a strong everyday player, but he’s capably filling the role when he’s in there for now.

Jun 12, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) connects for the game winning single in the tenth inning of the game against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

But Hosmer is the key. The story on Hosmer has been to bust him inside. He’s either not going to catch up or he’s not going to hit it farther than the infield. Since Brett arrived, though, he’s seemingly gotten through. ESPN had a heat map last week that showed how Hosmer was hitting the inside pitch and the difference is startling. On top of that, Hosmer’s hitting for more power. Before: 9 extra base hits in 190 plate appearances. After: 7 in 78. That’s nearly twice as frequently.

He’s hitting less infield choppers that don’t get past the pitcher. His hits aren’t all flaring to left field. Hosmer pulling the ball with authority makes him a much tougher out.

Hosmer’s hit charts before and after George Brett. (data from TexasLeaguers.com)

You could have nearly cut off right field up until June, but now, he’s hitting to all fields and even better, there are hardly any pesky outs right in front of the plate. I think I was finally convinced when Hosmer ripped a double in Tampa. The pitch came from lefty Matt Moore, a fastball just inside off the corner. Hosmer turned on it and ripped it into the corner. It’s a pitch that, if he’d swung at it in May, would have been a popout to left.

The best thing that I see is the middle of the lineup impact Brett has (seemingly) had. The run scoring is down, yes, but how many more runs would the Royals have if Alex Gordon hadn’t slumped? And if the gains made by Hosmer, Perez, Butler, and Cain hold while Gordon heats back up, it could turn into a really interesting 1-5 lineup.

*note: I’ve omitted Adam Moore since I don’t expect him to reach Kansas City again this year as long as everyone stays healthy and his plate appearances just aren’t enough to draw any conclusions. He did get three hits in two games, though.

So rough, it’s tough to understand how that team is the team we’re seeing right now—the team that went 5-2 this week to bring their record to 33-34, just one game under .500. It is INCREDIBLE! As Royals fans, we’ve dealt with the depths of a slide before, but it’s been a long time since we got to see a team catch fire to rebound from a slide (I think I used eight different metaphors in there). The team hasn’t look as good since the early 1990s as it looked this week, especially in the Rays series. That Royals team is one that deserves to compete for a division title. They also deserve an A for this week.

Some naughty themes for you:

Jun 12, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals team members congratulate first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) by putting Billy Butler Barbecue sauce on his head after he hits the game winning single in the tenth inning of the game against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

It’s tangy and tasty with a hint of magic

Of course, it’s the Rally Sauce. I’m not a superstitious person; in fact, I think the idea of a bottle of barbeque sauce affecting anything other than the taste of burnt end sandwich is ridiculous. But I do know that if players believe it works that’s why it works. Of course, tangy and tasty are some adjectives that could describe the Royals offense of late. Tangy, in that they’ve got a little more zip to the bats lately—i.e. they’re hitting with more power. Perhaps only a little more, but it’s making a big difference. From June 10 to June 17, the Royals have 13 extra base hits including five home runs. Five home runs in a week isn’t a big deal for most teams, but for the Royals it’s practically a power explosion.

A big part of that spark has come from the two and three holes. Everyone knows that Salvador Perez has been on fire since moving to the three-hole, but this week Eric Hosmer started to show some of the pop that made people giddy in 2011. He absolutely crushed a home run to left center in the first game of the Tampa series, and he also pulled a double down the line this week that really got people’s hopes up. As most of you know, he’s struggled to pull the ball with authority this year. Essentially, he smoked everything he made contact with in the Tampa series, which is a good sign. I’m no hitting coach, but watch his load compared to earlier this season. It’s shorter and more direct, which allows it to be quicker. He’s no longer behind on fastballs; instead, he’s squaring them up. In an earlier post, I noted that either he needed to start that load sooner or make it quicker. It looks like he’s chosen the later.

Add to that a surprising week from the *potent* bat of Elliot Johnson, and that sauce is tasting so, so good.

What might have been

I’m still hung up on this run differential disparity. It’s killing me because I know the Royals need every win they can get. Before the game Sunday, their Pythagorean win-loss was 35-31. That was in contrast to 32-34, which was their actual record at the time (Sorry, baseballreference.com hasn’t updated yet). This is remarkable to me. As a fan, someone who agonizes over the results of games, someone who hurt during that horrific stretch, it’s mind blowing that the Royals have outscored their opponents by so much: 262-245 before Sunday. I’m pretty jazzed about how they’re back to one game under .500. Imagine if they were four or five games over .500.

This is, of course, pretty much entirely thanks to a remarkable effort by a historically good pitching staff.

The moment

I don’t have much to say about it, but it’s pretty clear that Lorenzo Cain’s home run with two out and two strikes in the ninth against Detroit may go down as a very important moment in this season. If the Royals find a way to get into the division race, people will point to that moment. If they make it to the playoffs, that moment will be a storyline.

The decision 2013

Many fans and commentators are talking about the upcoming roster move the Royals have to make. Jeff Francoeur or David Lough. Those are the options. I’ve already commented on who I think they should keep (Lough) who I think they will keep (Francoeur) and the lame reasons they will use to justify that decision. In fact, Bob Dutton recently indicated that the front office is leaning Francoeur. But Dutton also notes that the front office won’t make a decision until it has to, meaning Dyson will probably spend his full 20 days rehabbing. This is a bad idea. I know everything seems sunshine and roses right now, but it’s usually a bad thing to keep your best players off the major league roster. When Dyson is healthy, he should be with the team and playing. Every game delayed is a game in which the best players are not playing. A rehab game or two, maybe, but this was an ankle sprain, an injury for which players often pass up rehab assignments. And they hardly ever do lengthy ones for a sprained ankle. What is the logic behind delaying this decision, whatever it may be? They know they aren’t releasing Dyson. If the team is in win-now mode, they need to learn what it means to be in win-now mode. It means playing your best players and trying to … yuh know … win now.

There are so many things I won’t get to in this post (Mike Moustakas’ continuing slump, George Brett exhales as the Royals start scoring, Chino Cadahia has the highest winning percentage of any manager in MLB history). So, if you want to bring up something that I left out, please do so in the comments. I’ll respond. I was the kid in class who always had something to say.

Mandatory Credit: Minda Haas

Ventura allowed a one out solo homerun in the first inning and then did not allow another hit until back-to-back singles led off the fourth. He lasted five innings while striking out five.Will Smith followed with three scoreless innings of relief. He struck out four.

The Storm Chasers collected just five hits, two from Quintin Berry (who also drove in two runs in the fourth).

NW Arkansas won in 13 innings in Arkansas, 3-2. Rey Navarro hit his second solo homerun of the game in the top of the 13th to put the Naturals ahead.

All three of the Naturals run came via the long ball (Manny Pina hit a solo homerun in the fifth).

First baseman Mitch Canham, who went 2-for-5 at the plate, earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief. It was his second relief appearance of the season and he threw just 23 pitches. Whit Merrifield, who started the game at second base, picked up the save with a perfect inning of relief. He threw just 14 pitches.

Wilmington lost their first half finale, 7-0 to Winston-Salem. How bad has it been this season against the Dash? They are just 2-12 against them and have been out-scored 67-29.

The Blue Rocks collected just four hits, all singles.

Two of the newer Blue Rocks pitchers came on in relief of loser Tyler Sample. Daniel Hernandez is back for his second stint of the season and allowed three runs on five hits and three walks over three innings. Ben Tomchick, who was just added on Saturday night at game time, threw a scoreless ninth inning (his first appearance of the season).

After battling back to tie the game in the eighth, Lexington lost in 11 innings, 8-7 on a walk off homerun to lead off the bottom of the inning.

The Legends collected 17 hits (four for extra bases), but went just 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Bubba Starling went 5-for-5 but did not score a run. Raul Mondesi went 4-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBIs. He cleared the bases in the 8th inning with a two out single (and helped out by a fielding error in center field).

Mark Peterson pitched three scoreless innings of relief (the eighth through the tenth).

Jun 16, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Wade Davis (22) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

After the first inning of Sunday’s matinee, it felt like Wade Davis was going to have a rough day against his former team.

In his first game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Davis threw 35 pitches in the first inning, giving up two runs but stranding the bases loaded. Matt Joyce led off with a single, then moved to second after Ben Zobrist grounded out to Eric Hosmer. The ball bounced off his glove as he tried to come up too soon to try for a double play, but the Royals were fortunate that it went right to Davis who was headed to the base. He made the putout on the bag, but since they didn’t get the lead runner at least, Joyce scored on Luke Scott‘s double. Evan Longoria walked before James Loney lined out to Alex Gordon. The inning could have ended there if they’d turned the double play, but instead, it continued.

Desmond Jennings got a ball past Mike Moustakas and Scott scored, then Kelly Johnson walked to load the bases. Finally, Davis got Jose Molina on a fly out to right field to end the inning. He threw 17 extra pitches due to the missed double play opportunity (though, to be fair, you can’t assume a team will turn two – though it looked like they had a good chance if Hosmer had fielded the ball cleanly).

Davis settled in after, though, giving up only two hits the rest of the day. He finished his day by retiring the last nine batters he faced.

While he was holding Tampa in check, the Royals kept chipping in runs. They scored in the first after Eric Hosmer reached on a fielder’s choice, moved to second on a groundout, then went to third on a passed ball and Billy Butler followed with a base hit to bring him in. They got another run on a homer to left by Jeff Francoeur, who got just enough of the ball and cleared the top of the fence by about a foot.

Jun 16, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Kansas City Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur (21) scores a run during the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.The Kansas City Royals defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

In the top of the sixth, they opened up with two outs, but Elliot Johnson continued his dominance over his old team with a double that just missed going over the fence. He’d already hit a three run homer off of them in the first game of the series and got seven hits over the whole series. After his double, the Rays intentionally walked Francoeur to get to Alcides Escobar, who shot a ball into left field. Luke Scott had to move to get to it and the throw was cut off as Johnson scored. Alex Gordon then lined a fastball into right field and Francoeur scored, avoiding a tag at the plate.

They added their fifth and final run after an Escobar double, a wild pitch and a high fly from Gordon. The insurance made the bottom of the ninth much more comfortable after Greg Holland came in and gave up a homer to Jose Lobaton and walked Matt Joyce a batter later. He got Ben Zobrist swinging to end the game though.

This was an encouraging series. The Royals head to Cleveland a game under .500, but after taking five of seven against the Tigers and Rays. Eric Hosmer is hitting the ball hard and even better, he’s mostly been hitting line drives instead of grounders. Billy Butler is starting to get back on track and he’s gotten two hits in three of his last four games. Escobar got a hit in each game of the series, including two doubles and a triple.

The Royals scored 25 runs in the four game series and, not surprisingly, won each game in which they scored more than three runs. They held Tampa to 11 runs. That’ll get you a lot of success.

I have no idea what the plans are for Felipe Paulino‘s rehab. I don’t even know where he is at the moment, but I had hopes of seeing him pitch in one of the games, but alas, it did not happen. That hope wasn’t all for naught, however, as it spawned a thirty minute discussion with my cousin on the 2 hour drive about what the Royals are going to do when Duffy and Paulino return to the team.* I did however get to see a few pretty interesting things and I’d like to share them with you.

*Consensus between us was that we believe Duffy will stay in Triple-A and Paulino will replace J.C. Gutierrez in the pen. However, after looking up Gutierrez’s stats when I got home, I realized that he doesn’t have any options left. So I have no idea.

1. Cheslor Cuthbert looks pretty good – Cheslor barely got into town before I did and I was excited to see how he looked at a higher level. He started at third and made a ridiculously awesome snag a few innings in on a line drive hit about about two feet over his head. He also ripped a double down the third base line in the seventh inning which I was happy to see because I think he saw all of four pitches in his two previous at-bats combined.

2. Noel Arguelles loses it – Noel made an appearance late in the first game and promptly gave up five runs in two innings pitched. His command was really bad and you could tell he was not happy out on the mound. When he entered the dugout after his last inning of work, he proceeded to get even angrier. He threw his glove on the ground as hard as he could. He followed that with his hat. He then reared back and kicked his hat as hard as he could. It flew up over the top of the dugout and landed on a lady in the first row behind the home dugout. She almost jumped out of her chair because she was looking out towards right field and never saw it before it dropped on top of her. One of Arguelles’ teammates ran up on the field and retrieved it for him. Kind of amusing series of events if I hadn’t just watched the guy give up five runs.

3. Manny Pina hits a home run – Pina has king of been lost in the shuffle after the emergence of Salvador Perez. I’m super happy with the player Salvy appears to be turning into, but I also kind of like Manny Pina. He hit a home run in the third inning of the second game and that was nice to see.

4. Ethan acquires long sought-after Naturals gear – You don’t care about this, but I do. I have been wanting Naturals apparel for several years and this was my first opportunity to acquire it. I acquired said Naturals swag* with a vengeance. Got a cool hat and an awesome shirt that says “I am Strike the Sasquatch.” Get on my level.

*Swag is used correctly there, right? Isn’t that what the kids are calling it?

All in all, it was a successful day at a nice venue and I’m already thinking about the next time I can get down there. That’ll probably have to be after a trip to see the Stormchasers, though.

May 31, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas (8) bats during the game against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Texas won 7-2. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

This is the part where I point out that Mike Moustakas is struggling. Nothing you haven’t heard before or seen with your own eyes.

Moustakas has always had the reputation of being a slow starter. He would often struggle at a new level in the minors, then, at a certain point, he would turn it on and overwhelm that level’s pitching. Then he’d move on to the next level, struggle, flip the switch and dominate. In 2011, he debuted in Kansas City on June 10, and after 53 games, he’d bottomed out at a .182/.237/.227 line. In his next game, he went 3-3 and started a 15 game hitting streak. After three hitless games, he then finished the year with a stretch of 18 games in which he hit in 15.

It seemed like this was the hot streak that indicated that he had turned it on. He hit four homers in the last two weeks of the season. When he opened up 2012, it looked like the pattern would hold. He had a .909 OPS after April, an .820 OPS after two months. He looked every part the solid third baseman the Royals expected him to be.

He finished the year struggling again, but it was commonly thought that a July knee injury had a lot to do with it, even if Moustakas wouldn’t admit it.

Now, we know that Moustakas is struggling. With the exception of a week in May when he hit homers on three consecutive days, he’s been miserable at the plate. He has more infield popups in 56 games in 2013 (14) than Joey Votto has in his entire 797 game career (11). Some have said that this is just another early season struggle and he’ll work out of it, but it’s simply not. Over the last 365 days, Moustakas has a .617 OPS. Shoot, at this point, I’d love to have a .617 OPS from him.

The Royals won’t send him down. They’ve preached patience, stated that they know he’s still got his confidence, and it all sounds nice. At this stage, though, if Moustakas can hit .184 and not lose his confidence, he’s either got the self-esteem of the Dos Equis guy, he isn’t paying attention to his performance, or the Royals are feeding a line and don’t want to admit they have a problem. Now, with George Brett in the dugout, they’re likely to keep Moustakas in Kansas City to give him more time with Brett. Meanwhile, they’ll sit him against righties or pinch-hit for him late in games.

Does that seem like a very valuable player for a team that’s creeping back towards .500 and contention?

Ned Yost provided a sound bite earlier this year about a third baseman tree, suggesting that it’s difficult to find a replacement. I think, though, that for a span of a month, you could find some combination of Irving Falu, Miguel Tejada, Elliot Johnson or someone from outside the organization to eat up a month’s worth of at bats. Had they gone that route back around the time when Yost talked of plucking players off of trees, Moustakas could have made adjustments in Triple A, renewed his confidence, and been back in Kansas City ready to get back to contributing. The Royals went 8-20 in May. It’s not like a third baseman committee could have worsened that record.

We’re nearly halfway through the season. Other teams have sent down struggling players. The Mariners sent Jesus Montero and Dustin Ackley down because they weren’t producing. For Ackley, they had said that they wanted to give him a mental break. With Montero, they cited the hope for a short-term demotion today working better for him long-term. The Mets sent Ike Davis down to get him an opportunity to work on his swing without worrying about the outcome.

Their hitting lines were similar to Moustakas’s when they were sent down:

• Davis: .161/.242/.258
• Ackley: .205/.266/.250
• Montero: .208/.264/.327
• Moustakas: .184/.249/.284

It’s well past time to do something.

The three homers added to an already league-leading total for dingers allowed by Guthrie and he didn’t strike anyone out either. To his credit, he didn’t walk anyone until the seventh inning, however he walked three but managed to sneak out without giving up more runs.   He was only charged with four earned runs after an error on a pickoff catch allowed Ben Zobrist to move to second then score after moving to third. Unfortunately, it came after a pickoff attempt that looked to be successful. After Zobrist advanced, Elliot Johnson fielded a ball near shallow right field and got a late throw to first, but it still looked to be an out. Instead, Luke Scott was ruled safe.

So the first inning could have gone better for all involved.

The Royals rebounded, scoring two in the top of the second after a bases loaded walk by Alex Gordon and a sacrifice fly from Eric Hosmer. Beyond that, though, the Royals rarely had scoring opportunities against starter Alex Cobb (more on him in a moment). They were shut down easily in the third and fourth innings and didn’t score until the eighth when Salvador Perez homered off former Royal Joel Peralta.

The game took on a subdued feeling, though, in the top of the fifth inning. Eric Hosmer led off the inning, worked a 2-1 count and then laced a line drive back up the middle. It hit Cobb in the side of the head and bounced back to catcher Jose Lobaton who threw to James Loney to get the out, but immediately after, they went to the mound and were met by training personnel. Cobb was down for a long time while all of the players were understandably shaken up.

Reports are now that Cobb suffered “just” mild concussion (though no, there are no insignificant concussions) and he’d never lost consciousness. That’s fortunate, since Marc Topkin reported that the ball was traveling 102.4 miles per hour off Hosmer’s bat. He was later visited by Chris Archer, Jeremy Hellickson, former Rays James Shields and Elliot Johnson and also Hosmer himself.

Back to the game – The Royals threatened in the ninth against Fernando Rodney, getting a two out single from Alex Gordon and a walk from Eric Hosmer to put the tying run on base for Perez. It wasn’t meant to be, however, as Perez grounded out on the first pitch on a chopper to short.

The loss puts the Royals at 32-34 with Wade Davis facing his former team on Sunday. The Royals get Roberto Hernandez.

The Storm Chasers also lost the second game, by an 8-7 score. They had the go ahead run on second base in the top of the ninth, but Adam Moore struck out and Quintin Berry grounded out to end the game. Moore had already drive in three runs on three hits (including a homerun), but struck out three times. Berry had two hits.

It was a rough night for the first three Omaha pitchers, all with big league experience. Danny Duffy made the rehab start and allowed two runs on four hits and three walks over just three innings. He struck out five (68 pitches, 37 strikes). Everett Teaford was next and allowed four runs (two after he exited) on five hits and three walks over 2.2 innings. He also struck out five. Louis Coleman entered in the sixth and allowed both of his inherited runners to score, along with two of his own on a grand slam.

Edwin Carl (Jen Nevius)

NW Arkansas lost the first game of their doubleheader to Springfield, 8-2. The Cardinals scored five runs over the final two innings to win. The Naturals scored their two runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Cheslor Cuthbert collected his first Double-A hit, a double in the seventh. He also scored in that inning.

The second game of the doubleheader was delayed in the fifth, but the Naturals won 6-1. Edwin Carl made the spot start and pitched four scoreless innings. Scott Alexander made his Double-A debut and picked up the win, though he allowed the lone Cardinals run. Zach Jackson picked up his fifth save with two scoreless innings of relief.

Manny Pina hit a solo homerun in the third and Matt Fields hit a solo homerun in the fourth (his 16th of the season). Pina went 2-for-2 with three RBIs.

Wilmington finally defeated Winston-Salem and eliminated the Dash from the first half crown. The Blue Rocks won 3-2.

Sam Selman rebounded from his rough start in Salem when he did not record an out in the first. His first and final three innings were very good, but the three in between were a little rough. However, he escaped. Selman allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and four walks over six innings. Listen to what Selman had to say following the game:

I had the chance to finally see Spencer Patton pitch in relief and I was impressed. He is one of the best relievers in the Carolina League. His curveball was good (around 86) and he pumped his fastball around 93. Patton needed just nine pitches in the 8th inning, but had a tougher time in the ninth. With two outs and a runner on first base, Dash leadoff hitter (and prospect) Joey DeMichele fouled off pitch after pitch before finally flying out to end the game (it was a 13 pitch at-bat).

The Blue Rocks offense gave Selman a 3-0, started with Denis Raben’s solo homerun in the second. It was his first since signing with the Royals and he received the silent treatment when he first entered the dugout. Daniel Mateo added a two-run shot in the third. They only had three baserunners after that and two were erased on inning ending double plays.

Ethan Chapman picked up his first hit in High-A, a single in the eighth.

Lexington lost to Asheville, 6-1. The Tourists scored four runs in the bottom of the third and never looked back.

After Daniel Stumpf struggled over 4.2 innings, Kevin Allen threw 2.1 scoreless innings of relief. Cory Hall followed with a perfect inning of relief.

Shortstop Raul Mondesi went 2-for-4 in his first game after being added to the South Atlantic League All-Star team. The rest of the team collected five hits.

Brooks Pounders in 2012 with Wilmington (Jen Nevius)

NW Arkansas lost late to Springfield, 8-4. That negated the solid start from Brooks Pounders, who allowed two runs on four hits and two walks over seven innings. He struck out four.

The Naturals collected 14 hits, but went just 2-for-12 with 11 strikeouts. Orlando Calixte (who went 3-for-5) and Brett Eibner (2-for-4) each hit solo homeruns. Matt Fields and Roman Hernandez each collected two hits and Brian Fletcher went 3-for-4.

*Third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert made his Double-A debut and went 0-for-3 with an RBI and two strikeouts. He also committed an error. To make room for both Cuthbert and reliever Scott Alexander, infielder Angel Franco was placed on the DL and reliever Matt Ridings was released.

Wilmington‘s comeback fell short, as they once again lost to Winston-Salem. This time by a 6-5 score. Jared Schlehuber‘s bases clearing double cut the deficit to one with two outs, but Dennis Raben struck out to end the game (he did have two hits).

Kyle Smith struggled in his final start before the All-Star break. He allowed four runs on five hits and three walks over just 3.1 innings. He also allowed two homeruns.

On offense, Kenny Swab, Schlehuber, and Raben each picked up two hits. Ethan Chapman made his High-A debut and went 0-for-2 with three walks while batting ninth.

Lexington had a 2-0 lead, but lost late in Asheville, 3-2.

The Legends collected six hits, two from Mark Threlkeld, who homered. However they committed three errors, which hurt the solid start by Christian Binford. He allowed three runs (one earned) on ten hits over seven innings.

Jun 14, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Kansas City Royals second baseman Elliot Johnson (23) is congratulated by first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) after he scored a run during the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Ray at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

I have to say, I don’t recall a recent season like this as a Royals fan. Usually by this point, the Royals would be fading fast. After an awful May, it seemed like they’d follow the same script, but now, after a 7-2 win over Tampa Bay, the Royals are a game below .500 and winners of nine of their last ten games.

You can break the season into three segments right now (Dave Lesky at Pine Tar Press dubbed it the “RoyalCoaster”):

• April 1 to May 5: The Royals were 17-10 after an extra innings win against Chicago.
• May 6 to May 29: Kansas City lost the James Shields game after blowing a 1-0 lead (the last time Greg Holland gave up a run) and proceeded to go 4-19.
• May 30 to now: The Royals went to St. Louis, replaced Jack Maloof with George Brett, and braved the elements to pull off a win and break an eight game losing streak. They’re 11-4 during this stretch.

Over the last two nights, though, they’ve only started to get some combination of excellent pitching (the Royals lead the American League in ERA and rank near the top in many other categories) and timely hitting to put up runs while keeping them off  the board. The Royals have held opponents to three runs or less in thirteen – THIRTEEN – straight games.

How unprecedented is that? Since 1985, it’s pretty rare:

Four teams have held opponents under 4 runs for 14+ since 1985: 2010 Giants (18), 1986 Yankees (16), 1991 Blue Jays (15), 1993 Braves (14)

— Brandon H. (@BHIndepMO) June 15, 2013

Tonight, it looked like things would turn out differently, though. Luis Mendoza opened the game by allowing a homer on the second pitch of the game to Matt Joyce, then walked Ben Zobrist. He scored on a one out double by Evan Longoria. James Loney hit it hard after Longoria, but it was off the end of the bat and hung up for Jeff Francoeur and a strike out by Desmond Jennings allowed Mendoza to escape.

He didn’t give up another run, though. Mendoza went to more breaking pitches, a nice adjustment, and didn’t run into any more trouble until the seventh, when he gave way to Aaron Crow with two on. Mendoza got timely ground balls to work a double play, then later picked off Joyce on second after he’d doubled. He got by on guile and his ERA is now 4.08. I’ve been tough on Mendoza but he’s looking more and more trustworthy with every start.

He had a cushion to work with after a Royals four run fifth inning which opened up with a single by Francoeur, a triple by Rays-killer Elliot Johnson, and a hard hit shot to second that was ruled a hit by Alcides Escobar. After Alex Gordon flew out, Eric Hosmer drove a ball to right and into the corner for a double.

It’s no secret that Hosmer has struggled to turn on the inside pitch over the last two years. Most of his hits have come on grounders to right or flares to left. He hit just his second homer of the year on Thursday night. But against lefty Matt Moore, Hosmer turned on a fastball in on his hands, whipped the bat around and shot it down the line. It looked like what we’ve been expected from him all along and is an encouraging sign. Salvador Perez hit a soft liner into left with a smooth, controlled swing on an 0-2 pitch (which made up for a bad decision in the first inning where he chased a pitch and popped it to center with two on) and scored Escobar. Then, Billy Butler shot a ball deep into center to score Hosmer from third.

They tacked on two more in the ninth, but they didn’t need them.

I’d still like to see more power, and obviously the pitching will stop being dominant every night out, but the Royals are riding some momentum and they’re executing in key spots. They have to make up some ground after their tumble in May, but most Royals fans should be pleasantly surprised to see this response from the team. What’s the source? Many will credit George Brett’s presence and perhaps that’s part of it. They started to wake up after arriving in St. Louis, a trip they had to make as a team on a bus rather than a plane. Then there’s the Rally Sauce, one of those silly things that the team can use to get behind and stay loose. I don’t know what it is or how long it will last, but it’s a lot more fun to watch than it was for most of last month.

The full list of today’s signees:

• 3rd round: Carter Hope
• 4th round: Zane Evans (reportedly for $400,000)
• 7th round: Kyle Bartsch
• 10th round: Alex Newman ($125,000)
• 11th round: Xavier Fernandez
• 19th round: Andrew Edwards
• 23rd round: Javier Reynoso
• 27th round: Christian Flecha

That leaves just competitive balance pick Sean Manaea and Cody Stubbs as the lone unsigned draftees out of the top 10 rounds. Manaea is reportedly “very likely” to sign, though he won’t be signing for a discount. The slot amount for Manaea, the 34th overall selection, is $1.623 million, and the Royals have signed many of their players in the first ten rounds to under-slot deals to accommodate a higher signing bonus. They’re currently comfortably under their draft bonus pool cap at $1.6 million under budget.

Stubbs shouldn’t be a difficult signing. He’s a senior in college as it is. He hasn’t signed yet because North Carolina is playing in the College World Series. Once UNC is eliminated, he should sign quickly. He’ll likely be the last to sign out of the first ten rounds. First round pick Hunter Dozier signed early and is already set to head to Idaho Falls to start his professional career.

May 31, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Wade Davis (22) is taken out by manager Ned Yost (3) during the sixth inning against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Texas won 7-2. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

When I watch Wade Davis, it hurts my heart. It also hurts my stomach, vocal chords, and man parts. My stomach because it makes me sick. My vocal chords because I scream at him through my television like a normal person. And my man parts because I get sympathy pains for a man who is repeatedly kicked in the nuts by his opponents.

Watching Davis pitch is hard, in part, because of his position in the The Trade. Many, myself included, felt that he would be the key to determining who “won” this trade (though clearly defining winning and losing is sometimes difficult in the world of sports trades). If Davis succeeds, the trade will be vindicated since he’ll be around longer than James Shields. Of course, this also depends on what Wil Myers turns into, but in the moment, it felt like we were losing an All-Star and getting Davis in return.

I was hopeful too, as I almost always am, that Davis would turn the success he found in the bullpen into increased success in the rotation. I never operated under the delusion he would be a Shields-like success, but I thought he could be a serviceable two or a very good three with his increased strikeout numbers allowing him to become an above-average starter. This is in contrast to the average starter he was in Tampa Bay.

Until recently, I couldn’t help but feel that my hope was misplaced. He’s pitched poorly so far this season, looking even worse than his two years starting in Tampa. Or so I thought. Then, I looked at his stats for this season. Now, I’m not so sure he’s as bad as watching him indicates.

Here are some of Davis’ numbers for 2013. They’re bad. Really quite bad. Some of them are bad like Wesley Snipes is bad, in that he never pays taxes and was in Michael Jackson’s “Bad” video—terrific actor though. But take a look at the strikeout rate—8 SO/9. That’s up from his previous two seasons as a starter, as you can see. In fact, it’s closer to his six game stint in 2009 when his ERA was a much more respectable 3.72.

If he’s striking out more, why is he giving up way more runs? Hopefully, no one is actually asking that because it’s pretty obvious, but I’ll answer it anyway. Look at the hits-per-nine-innings number: 12.5 H/9. Look at the WHIP: 1.791 down from 1.839 before Tuesday. That’s a lot of hits. Really, it’s a lot of base runners, and a lot of base runners usually equals a lot of runs. He is also walking a few more hitters than he use to but not too many, and he’s giving up a shade fewer homeruns, but again not so many that it’s a huge deal. The homeruns will probably even out when he starts giving up fewer hits overall.

Of course, more hits don’t always equal more runs. In fact, good pitchers usually do a better job leaving runners on base because they strike hitters out (and 8 SO/9 is a good number). On the left-on-base front, Davis has met his share of misfortune. This season, he’s only stranding 69.4 percent of runners, down from 81.4 percent last season and lower than 2010 and 2011 in which he stranded 78.1 percent and 72.1 percent respectively. Don’t worry! It doesn’t appear he’s the next Luke Hochevar, as Hochevar struggled with runners on base his whole career and Davis has really only struggled with it this season and his six-game stint in 2009.

Perhaps more important than his letting runners in is his letting runners on. Why is he giving up more hits this year than ever before? Well, it’s probably a combination of things. Let’s start with the thing that makes me a little optimistic about Davis. Hitters currently hold a .392 BABIP against him. That’s insane and completely unsustainable. So, the hit numbers will probably go down as that regresses to the mean. That will mean fewer men on base, which will drop the ERA numbers, and perhaps dramatically if Davis can start stranding a few more runners.

But let’s not call it all a negative turn of near-random events (some of you call it bad luck but as you may recall I don’t believe in luck). In part, Davis has a high BABIP because he leaves balls up and in the middle that get hit hard. Also important is the fact that he leaves fastballs up and in the middle. He’s remarked recently about how he’s working on fastball command, which is disheartening for a fan to hear (you’re a Major League pitcher; how can you not locate a fastball?). Fastballs are easier to hit when left in the middle of the plate because hitters see fastballs most often and they usually go straighter than other pitches. If he were leaving breaking balls in the middle, it still wouldn’t be good, but he might be fooling people a little more than with fastballs poorly located due to changes in speed and increased movement.

This is all in the way of saying I wouldn’t be surprised if Davis starts seeing a little more success. He’s never given up the number of hits he has up to this point, and regression is likely. If he can sustain the strikeout numbers and keep it around eight per nine innings, he’ll be in good shape. Tuesday’s start looks like a hint of what Davis should be given his stuff. He struck out five, gave eight hits, one walk, and two runs while going 6.2 IP. That’s a solid start. If he throws a few more solid starts, Royals fans will get to see what they hoped he might be instead of the train wreck he appeared to be until Tuesday.

To replace the departed, the Blue Rocks received outfielder Ethan Chapman and right-handed reliever Daniel Hernandez from Lexington, first baseman Dennis Raben from the independent Lincoln Saltdogs, and utility infielder Alex McClure from NW Arkansas. Hernandez, Raben, and McClure all saw action on Thursday night.

Now to the games…

Mandatory Credit: Minda Haas

Omaha held on to beat Nashville, 4-2.

The Storm Chasers led 2-1 after the first inning on Xavier Nady‘s two out homerun. Quintin Berry gave them some insurance with his own two-run homerun in the eighth. That was needed, as the Sounds scored a run in the ninth and had another runner in scoring position.

Chris Dwyer was dominant in picking up his fifth win of the season. He allowed one run on nine hits over seven innings while striking out seven. He threw 70 of his 107 pitches for strikes.

NW Arkansas won both games of their doubleheader against Springfield. They took Game 1, 8-1. Matt Fields hit a two out, two-run homerun in the first and the Naturals never looked back.

Fields, Yem Prades, Rey Navarro, and Whit Merrifield each collected two hits. Fields drove in four.

Sugar Ray Marimon was dominant in the complete game win. He allowed one run on five hits and a walk. He struck out eight. Marimon threw 97 pitches, 70 for strikes.

In Game 2, the Naturals won 3-2. They scored all of their runs in the third.

With two outs and nobody on base in the 3rd inning, Merrifield singled and scored on Brett Eibner‘s triple. He would score on Orlando Calixte‘s second homerun of the season.

Aaron Brooks was solid yet again in his second Double-A start. He allowed one run on seven hits over six innings. It got interesting in the ninth when new closer Zach Jackson allowed a run on six hits. The Cardinals had the tying run on second base (and the go ahead run on first), but Jackson induced a ground out to end the game.

On the night that Wilmington announced that they will host the 2014 California-Carolina League All-Star Game, the Blue Rocks lost to Winston-Salem, 5-3 in 11 innings.

In the 7th inning, Jack Lopez stole home to give the Blue Rocks the 3-1 lead (his second stolen base). However, the Dash scored two runs in the top of the ninth and two more in the top of the 11th.

Kellen Moen gave the a Blue Rocks solid spot start in replacing John Lamb (no word on why he didn’t start). Moen allowed one run on four hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out four. Hernandez was solid, as he walked two over two scoreless innings of relief. Then Cody Fassold and Robinson Yambati gave up the four late Dash runs.

Raben started at first base and went 1-for-5 while grounding into a double play. McClure started at shortstop (batting second) and went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Lexington lost in walk off fashion in Asheville, 7-6. The Tourists scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth, capped by a game-winning two-run double with two outs.

Four of the Legends six runs came via two-run homeruns from Mark Donato and Cam Gallagher (his first of the season).

The Asheville comeback negated the solid start from Miguel Almonte, who allowed two runs on six hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out five.

Donato and Fred Ford each collected two hits in the loss. Alex Hudak came off the bench and went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts.

FanSided and Kings of Kauffman have teamed up with Deals2Buy.com to give away a LG Electronics 42-Inch LED TV!!!

To enter, simply like us on Facebook and sign up for our daily email newsletter, FanSided Daily. It is completely free and customizable to your unique rooting interest. Then earn additional entries by sharing the contest with friends!

This LG Electronics 42-Inch LED TV is provided by Deals2Buy, a leading website for deals, discounts and close-out inventory offers. Focused on delivering best-of-web pricing, Deals2Buy is known among tech-savvy consumers as the one stop shop for deals on items like laptops, cameras, televisions and other technology products – as well as apparel, accessories, travel, and even credit card offers. Sign up for the Deals2Buy Hot Deal Alerts newsletter and follow them on Twitter and Facebook to stay in the know about the hottest deals every day!

STEP 1: Like us on Facebook:

STEP 2: Sign up for Daily Royals Updates

Kansas City Royals

Yes, Sign me up for the Deals2Buy Hot Deal Alerts newsletter.

We will NEVER share your email address with anyone.

STEP 3: Follow @fansided to see if you won

STEP 4: Share it on Facebook

STEP 5: Share it on Twitter Tweet

FINISH: Visit FanSided.com and Deals2Buy.com!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and D.C., 18 years and older, who are the owners of the property depicted in the photo. Begins: 9:00 a.m. C.T. on 5/15/13. Ends: 11:59 p.m. C.T. on 6/15/13. Subject to Official Rules at www.fansided.com. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: FanSided. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/last-chance-to-win-a-lg-electronics-42-inch-led-tv-from-fansided-and-kings-of-kauffman/feed/ 0 http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/royals-at-rays-series-preview/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/royals-at-rays-series-preview/#comments Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:29:38 +0000 Mike Vamosi http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=17885 Kansas City takes to the road after a 7-2 homestand against Minnesota, Houston and Detroit. The Royals will begin their seven game trip with four in St. Pete than finish in Cleveland against the Indians.

Ervin Santana threw four excellent innings against Tampa Bay in May but the game was never official due to rain/snow falling in Kansas City which lead to the game being called. Photo Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Series Preview –

The Rays are 4-4 and are coming off losing two of three against the Red Sox at the Trop which includes a marathon 14 inning game on Monday. In the teams met April 30-May 2 with the final game being called due to a snow storm with the Royals leading in the fourth. This is the only trip to the Trop KC will make in 2013 which has been a house of horror since the Rays entered the league in 1998.

Probable Pitching Matchups –

Thursday, June 13 (6:10 pm): Ervin Santana (4-5, 2.99) v. Jeremy Hellickson (4-2, 5.18)
- Santana couldn’t get cooperation from mother nature when he through against Tampa in May leading when the snow came and game was lost
- The Magic Man is 5-6 with a 5.47 ERA in his career against TB
Friday, June 14 (6:10 pm): Luis Mendoza (1-3, 4.19) v. Matt Moore (8-2, 3.78)
- The Dozer threw seven scoreless innings on Sunday against Houston allowing just four hits
- Mendoza is 1-1 away from the K with his lone win coming in Anaheim a month ago (5/13)
Saturday, June 15 (3:10 pm): Jeremy Guthrie (7-3, 3.60) v. Alex Cobb (6-2, 2.95)
- Guthrie picked up the win against Detroit on Monday going 6.1 innings in a 3-2 win
- He’s won his last two starts after losing three of his four previous starts
Sunday, June 16 (12:40 pm): Wade Davis (3-5, 5.37) v. Roberto Hernandez (4-6, 4.91)
- Threw well against the Tigers going 6.2 innings but picked up his second straight no-decision
- Davis last won a game May 15 at Anaheim against the Angels

2013 Results –  

The Royals won 8-2 and 9-8 on April 30/May 1 when the teams met the series finale was “snowed” out in the fourth inning so the teams will meet again. James Shields and Bruce Chen picked up wins in the two game sweep.

TV/Radio –             

All four games can be seen on Fox Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler on the call, Joel Goldberg and Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery will be on the pre/postgame show. Fans can listen to Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart on 610 Sports Radio all four games as well.

2013 Schedule/Results v. Rays – KC leads 2-0

April 30-May 2, Kauffman Stadium – Kansas City won 8-2 and 9-8 with game three being snowed out
June 13-16 – Tropicana Field

Game Notes –
Kansas City
Tampa Bay

]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/royals-at-rays-series-preview/feed/ 0 http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/taking-the-next-step-cheslor-cuthbert/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/taking-the-next-step-cheslor-cuthbert/#comments Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:16:41 +0000 Michael Engel http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=17881 When Dayton Moore pulled the trigger on the Wil Myers/James Shields trade, he did so on the understanding that the organization’s minor leagues still had depth of talent.

Cheslor Cuthbert via Jen Nevius

Today, one of those pieces was pushed up the ladder another level. Cheslor Cuthbert, all of 20 years old, will be promoted to Northwest Arkansas and take on Double A pitching, according to Bob Dutton. Cuthbert was a 16-year-old signee in 2009 out of Nicaragua.

Last year, he had some struggles in Low A at the end of the 2011 that continued into 2012 with High A Wilmington, but he’s rebounded in 2013 by showing better plate discipline (he’s cut his strikeout rate while increasing his walk rate). If he makes a quick adjustment in Double A, he should see some spike in power numbers as well, after leaving the cavernous Frawley Stadium in Wilmington for the cozy confines of Arvest Ballpark in Springdale. He has 25 extra base hits in 60 games, but most of them are doubles.

Cuthbert has always played above his age, and the adjustment period can be difficult, especially for international players. He seems to have made those adjustments and can make some strides in a tougher league. Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus suggests he could have above average power and be an average defender at third and there could be some room to grow from there as well.

Yr	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2010	17	2 Teams	2 Lgs	Rk	32	140	24	32	7	3	3	15	9	35	.250	.314	.422	.736
2010	17	Royals	ARIZ	Rk	18	76	14	18	3	2	1	5	6	19	.265	.342	.412	.754
2010	17	Idaho Falls	PION	Rk	14	64	10	14	4	1	2	10	3	16	.233	.281	.433	.715
2011	18	Kane County	MIDW	A	81	342	33	80	13	1	8	51	36	65	.267	.345	.397	.742
2012	19	Wilmington	CARL	A+	124	517	47	114	18	0	7	59	37	80	.240	.296	.322	.618
2013	20	Wilmington	CARL	A+	60	254	32	63	21	2	2	31	27	37	.280	.354	.418	.772
4 Seasons					297	1253	136	289	59	6	20	156	109	217	.256	.323	.372	.696
Rk (1 season)				Rk	32	140	24	32	7	3	3	15	9	35	.250	.314	.422	.736
A+ (2 seasons)				A+	184	771	79	177	39	2	9	90	64	117	.253	.315	.353	.668
A (1 season)				A	81	342	33	80	13	1	8	51	36	65	.267	.345	.397	.742

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/13/2013.

]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/taking-the-next-step-cheslor-cuthbert/feed/ 0 http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/billy-butler-and-kansas-city-royals-still-struggling-with-slugging/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/billy-butler-and-kansas-city-royals-still-struggling-with-slugging/#comments Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:10:23 +0000 Bob Ellis http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=17874  

Butler has heated up at the plate, but still only has 5 homers in 2013. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

I expressed some concern back in January regarding Billy Butler’s power numbers heading into this season…but I couldn’t have imagined a decrease as drastic as this. And it’s not just Billy, it’s the entire team.

I know, I’m not pointing out anything new here…but while this lack of home run power has been in our faces all season, it really hit me when I braved the heat and went to game 3 of the series against the division leading Detroit Tigers. When our big guns made it to first base, and I looked at Alex Gordon or Billy Butler standing next to Prince Fielder…it really drove home the point. Fielder has 12 homers, and just across the diamond I could see Miguel Cabrera manning third base with his 18 home runs. And our team leader has…6. Really?

Through Tuesday’s games, the Royals had a total of 32 homers (of course Cain’s heroic blast makes that 33). So that places the team dead last in the American League. The next worst team on the list? The Minnesota Twins with 54 team homers…so…we’re not even close.

What gives? The obvious thing to do is blame the pre-George Brett hitting philosophy. Was that the problem? It could be…we haven’t had a huge sample size since Brett stepped in on May 30, but it’s worth taking a look at.

The Royals played 50 games from opening day through May 29. During that stretch, the team racked up 28 homers (an average of 0.6 per game) and had a SLG of .375 with an OPS of .689. From May 30 through June 11 (not counting the June 12 game) the Royals hit 4 homers in 12 games for an average of 0.3 per game. The team SLG is down to .324 and OPS down as well, to .620.

Granted, both of these totals include parts of a horrible stretch of games, from May 6 through 29, which saw the team put up a 4-19 record, going from 17-10 all the way down to 21-29. Not good. However, even through that 23 game skid, the team still posted a .350 SLG and .646 OPS – better than the stretch since Brett came on board.

Brett’s brought a lot of energy to the team, can he help with home runs? Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Lets give Brett the benefit of the doubt and say it took him a week to gain any meaningful time with the batters. The Royals got hot against the Twins and from June 5 through 11 put up a record of 6-1. During that small span of time, the team has a SLG of .374 and .695 OPS. They still aren’t hitting for much pop, but the OPS is getting there, largely due to some patience at the plate and a little uptick in OBP. Still…not a lot of power, although it does SEEM like it’s coming around with 3 homers in that 7 game stretch (after Wednesday’s game, it’s 4 homers in 8 games). Two of those 4 belong to Lorenzo Cain, 1 to David Lough, and 1 to Sal Perez.

We’re getting a little more pop, and it’s not fair to single anyone out, really…but what about Gordon and Butler? The two guys we most expect great production from have not homered since May 9 and May 14, respectively. I can cut Gordon a little slack…he’s the type of hitter that just gets it done…singles, doubles, and so on. I think he’s always going to have a fluctuating home run total from year to year…and he could easily still hit 15 or so this season. Maybe more if he gets on a roll at some point.

Butler, though, is a guy who gets paid to hit and to drive in runs. And I will never question his ability at the plate. Look, the guy is a natural born hitter. Even if he’s not hitting for power, he’s at least HITTING. And getting on base at a .379 clip this year as well. His SLG, however, is just a shade over .400 (sitting at .402) and his ISO is down to .134 so far, which is the lowest number he’s put up since a .124 ISO back in 2008 – a season which saw him go back to Omaha for 26 games due to a lack of production. In that season, he only managed to hit 11 homers and SLG .400 in 124 games.

Cain’s got two homers in the last 8 games…will his power surge mean more pitches for Butler to hit? Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Don’t get me wrong, Billy is producing (or his BBQ sauce is, anyway). Of the everyday players, he trails only Gordon in OPS and leads the team in OBP and RBI. But we want to see Billy hitting the ball hard. If he’s not on pace to hit 30 (or 25, or even 20) “Billy Bombs” (as Rex Hudler likes to say), we need to see the 45 to 50 doubles he used to hit. Right now, I’d say he’s more on pace for 15 to 18 homers and about 35 doubles or so. Is that enough from an “elite” designated hitter? I don’t know. It CAN be, depending on the bats around him. And maybe that’s a large part of the issue…a lack of intimidating bats stacked up behind him. Maybe the recent power surge from Lorenzo Cain will translate into more hittable pitches for Billy…we’ll see.

Whatever the case, it’s been a perfect storm of things gone wrong with this lineup for a good portion of 2013. It’s not just Butler. Or Gordon. Or any one piece of the puzzle, really. Well…maybe Mike Moustakas. But as fun as this recent winning stretch of baseball has been, I’m not sure it’s sustainable without an increase in home run power.

How can KC compete with teams like Detroit, who can go yard at seemingly any moment? Yeah…the Royals just won a series against the Tigers, but if they are going to hang tough all year, we’re gonna need more power. We’ve seen a recent surge (I guess)…but the Royals are going to have to keep it up over the long haul, or we could (knock on wood) see another long stretch of very hard to watch baseball. But hey…right now, the boys in blue are winning…so I’m going to enjoy the ride.

 

*On another note, due to the lack of offense, Ned Yost finally let the “stat guys” have more input with his lineup construction of late. And, coincidentally, the first win of this 7-1 run started with that lineup, which is still in place today. Score one for stat nerds/sabermetricians everywhere. For what it’s worth, someone (not naming names here) came up with a pretty similar lineup a while back…

 

]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/13/billy-butler-and-kansas-city-royals-still-struggling-with-slugging/feed/ 0 http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/royals-june-12th-minors-recap-2/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/royals-june-12th-minors-recap-2/#comments Thu, 13 Jun 2013 03:56:34 +0000 Jen Nevius http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=17879 Nashville scored all five runs over the second and third innings and held on for the 5-4 win over Omaha. The Storm Chasers actually had the tying run on second base with two outs, but Sounds closer Rob Wooten struck out Jarrod Dyson to end the game (Wooten struck out the side and Dyson struck out for the third time in the game).

It was another rough start for Justin Marks, who allowed all five runs on four hits and five walks over five innings. Francisley Bueno pitched two scoreless innings of relief with four strikeouts. Will Smith continued his successful transition to the bullpen with a hitless inning of relief.

The Storm Chasers out-hit the Sounds (10-7), but went just 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Only one of the hits went for extra bases. Christian Colon and Willy Taveras each picked up three hits. Colon drove in two runs.

NW Arkansas lost their opener to Springfield by a 9-5 final.

Jason Adam lost his eighth game of the season, as he allowed five runs (two earned) on nine hits and two walks over five innings. He did commit an error and allowed a two out, two-run homerun in the fourth to give the Cardinals the 4-0 lead.

The Naturals collected ten hits, but went just 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Brett Eibner, Roman Hernandez (who did not start), and Angel Franco each collected two hits. Franco drove in three runs, including a two-run triple in the eighth.

 

Kyle Zimmer (Jen Nevius)

Kyle Zimmer finally picked up his first win of the season, as Wilmington salvaged the road finale with a 9-5 win in Salem. Zimmer was solid, as he allowed two runs on six hits and two walks over six innings. He struck out four. He allowed a single run in the bottom of the first (on three hits and a walk) and another in his final inning.

The Blue Rocks collected 17 hits in the win, though only two went for extra bases. Parker Morin went 4-for-5 with three RBIs. Lane Adams and Geulin Beltre each collected three hits. Justin Trapp and Jared Schlehuber each picked up two hits.

The Blue Rocks were eliminated from winning the first half, but they could ruin the playoff chances of Winston-Salem, who they welcome to town for four games beginning on Thursday night. The Dash are two games back in the Southern Division.

Lexington lost their first half home finale to Rome, 3-2.

Alec Mills lost his first game as a starter, allowing two runs on two hits and a walk over 4.1 innings. He did strike out five. Both runs scored after Mills was pulled in the fifth (on bases loaded walks). Kevin Allen made his first appearance of the season and allowed one run on two hits and a walk over two innings. Mark Peterson returned from the DL to pitch a perfect ninth inning.

The Legends collected just two hits for the second consecutive game. Fred Ford (who also had one of the hits last night) and Kenny Diekroeger collected the two singles.

They were also officially eliminated from the first half crown, but finish up the first half in Asheville beginning Thursday night.

]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/royals-june-12th-minors-recap-2/feed/ 0 http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/special-chance-to-turn-5-into-20000-playing-fantasy-baseball/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/special-chance-to-turn-5-into-20000-playing-fantasy-baseball/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:28:42 +0000 FanSided http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/special-chance-to-turn-5-into-20000-playing-fantasy-baseball/

DraftKings.com, the leader in daily fantasy sports, and Kings of Kauffman is giving you a special chance to qualify into their $100,000 contest this Friday.

Daily fantasy is the same as regular fantasy, except all contests last just 1-day. You pick a team under the allotted salary cap, click “submit”, and watch the results live. A night of baseball is a lot more exciting knowing you can win the $20,000 first-place prize!

For just $5, you have 2 chances to win a ticket into the $100,000 contest on Friday. Even if you don’t place in the top-2, at least 40% of the people who enter will get paid out.

So if like fantasy sports, or even if you just like winning money, enter into this special contest now.

Space is limited to the first 50 people who sign up so hurry!

]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/special-chance-to-turn-5-into-20000-playing-fantasy-baseball/feed/ 0 http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/the-imminent-return-of-jarrod-dyson/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/the-imminent-return-of-jarrod-dyson/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:25:51 +0000 Brian Henry http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=17863 Jarrod Dyson is rehabbing in Omaha right now, and will soon be returning to the Royals.  It is likely that this means David Lough will be heading back to the farm since he was called up to replace Dyson.  This is problematic though, since Lough has proven that he belongs on this team.

The main reason for keeping Jeff Francoeur around would be to play him against left handed pitching.  Both Lough and Dyson are left handed and Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordonare playing every day.  That makes Frenchy the right handed bat of the other three outfield options.  This thinking only makes sense so far as Jeff can hit lefties.  Throughout his career he

Oct 1, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder David Lough (7) misses a fly ball against the Detroit Tigers in the sixth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

has done it to the tune of .288/.339/.437, but last year this skill disappeared.  He only hit .225/.307/.388 last year against lefties and this year has a little better average with no power .255/.296/.333, which is just not playable.  Jeff Francoeur is also a very slow outfielder who gets to nothing.  His only major league skill at this point is his right arm that can still throw with a lot of power and accuracy.

Lough, on the other hand, can do almost everything.  He will never be a star, but he plays very good defense, runs reasonably well, can hit, and has a little bit of pop.  Watch this video and this videoboth from the last week, and tell me you wouldn’t rather have him in the outfield than Frenchy.  Actually, I think he might be better out there than Dyson too.  If the Royals only played Gordon, Cain, Dyson, and Lough this outfield would be one of the best in the majors defensively day in and day out.  Then the only problem becomes one extra left handed bat in lieu of Francoeur’s when facing a left handed pitcher.

May 30, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur (21) sits on some quick dry bags during a rain delay against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Kansas City defeated St. Louis 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

There may be no platoon advantage in this case though.  Last year Lough did struggle against left handed pitching in triple-A posting a .229/.273/.403 line, but so far this year he is hitting .317/.404/.390 against same-sided competition in the minors. That is likely in part a function of a small sample, but remember that he only has to be equal to Francoeur’s lackluster .333 slugging percentage and has bettered it so far in the big leagues against lefties this year too, albeit in only 6 PAs.  If there is no platoon advantage, the better player should be on the team and that is David Lough both at the plate and in the field.

If Lough is kept, it means someone else has to go.  There are really only three options.  Send Chris Getz down and play Elliot Johnson every day at second base.  This won’t work because you would have no back up for second or short.  The second option is to send Mike Moustakas down and let Johnson and Miguel Tejada take care of third base.  That has some potential, but I don’t get the feeling that Moose is heading anywhere.  So, we come to the third option, waive Jeff Francoeur.  George Brett has said it already, it is time to grow up.  If you cannot play you should not have a spot on the team.  Frenchy is not a major league baseball player anymore.  He is still owed approximately $4.5 million, but it is in the team’s best interest to pay him the money without his hurting the team by playing too.  As a bonus it will show the young players how serious the front office is.  If you cannot play we have no space for you.

 

]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/12/the-imminent-return-of-jarrod-dyson/feed/ 0 http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/11/royals-june-11th-minors-recap-2/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/11/royals-june-11th-minors-recap-2/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:29:29 +0000 Jen Nevius http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=17865 A four-run second inning was enough for Nashville to beat Omaha, 5-2.

Yordano Ventura made his second straight start, which was yet again not a great one. He lasted just 4.2 innings and left with two men on base (George Sherrill did not allow them to score). Ventura allowed all five runs on eight hits (including a three-run homerun) and two walks while striking out five. 59 of his 93 pitches were strikes. Brian Sanches threw two perfect innings of relief at the end.

Jarrod Dyson has continued a very good rehab stint with the Storm Chasers, as he went 2-for-4.

May 26, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Felipe Paulino (59) pitches in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

The game was scoreless until the eighth, but NW Arkansas lost, 3-2. The first hit of the game came via a one out double from Orlando Calixte in the fourth (one of his two doubles).

Noel Arguelles left with the bases loaded in the eighth, but Santiago Garrido entered and allowed all three runs to score. In the bottom of the ninth, the Naturals had the tying run on second base with one out, but could not come up with the clutch hit.

Felipe Paulino began his rehab stint with the Naturals with five scoreless innings. He did not allow a hit until the fifth, when he allowed two singles. He did struggle a bit in the first, when he walked, two, but settled down from there. Paulino ended up striking out six.

*The Texas League All-Stars were announced earlier in the day, as the Naturals play host. Despite having the worst team, four players will be representing: Calixte will be starting at shortstop, with Mitch Canham and Angel Franco coming off the bench. Garrido will be coming out of the bullpen.

Wilmington has now lost five in a row on this road trip, as they lost 3-1 in Salem. At least they received a solid start this time.

Tyler Sample lasted five innings. He allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits, four walks, and two hit batters. He also allowed three stolen bases. Spencer Patton has been great for the Blue Rocks all season and kept it up tonight. He pitched the final three innings and struck out four (he allowed four hits).

The Blue Rocks offense collected six hits, but went 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position and were caught stealing twice.

Lexington welcomed Crawford Simmons back from the DL (and two more), but they lost 4-1. Simmons was making his first appearance since 2011 (elbow injury). He allowed three runs on three hits and two walks over three innings.

The Legends offense collected just two hits, a single each from Fred Ford and Mark Threlkeld, who also drove in the lone run. Threlkeld was just activated off the DL from a broken arm when he was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat of the season. Catcher Cameron Gallagher returned from the DL (broken hand) and went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

 

]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/11/royals-june-11th-minors-recap-2/feed/ 0 http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/11/royals-sign-more-draftees-to-join-hunter-dozier/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/11/royals-sign-more-draftees-to-join-hunter-dozier/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 02:15:57 +0000 Michael Engel http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=17864 A day after announcing the signing of their first round pick, Hunter Dozier, the Royals announced signings of 17 others, including four of their first eleven picks from the first ten rounds.

The big signing yet to happen is that of lefty Sean Manaea, who the Royals view as a second first round pick. The Royals saved about a million dollars with Dozier’s $2.2 million bonus when compared to the slot value for the eight overall pick, and they saved just over $162,000 with their bonus offer to fifth round pick Amalani Fukofuka. That puts them in a good spot to give Manaea an offer that will surely surpass the $1.6 million dollar slot amount for the 34th overall pick. Manaea was originally a potential top ten pick but a hip injury dropped him out of the first round. It’s not expected to be a significant issue once he has surgery to repair a torn labrum. Manaea is advised by Scott Boras.

Rd	Pos	Name	DOB	From	Signed?
1	SS	Hunter Dozier	8/22/1991	Stephen F Austin	6/10/13 – $2.2 million
CB	LHP	Sean Manaea	2/1/1992	Indiana State
2	LHP	Cody Reed	4/15/1993	NW Mississippi CC	6/11/13 – $1,198,500
3	RHP	Carter Hope	2/5/1995	Woodlands HS (TX)
4	C	Zane Evans	11/29/1991	Georgia Tech
5	OF	Amalani Fukofuka	9/25/1995	James Logan HS (CA)	6/11/13 – $175,000
6	RHP	Luke Farrell	6/7/1991	Northwestern	6/11/13
7	LHP	Kyle Bartsch	3/10/1991	University of South Alabama
8	1B	Cody Stubbs	1/14/1991	North Carolina
9	OF	Daniel Rockett	11/9/1990	UT-San Antonio	6/11/13 – $147,000
10	OF	Alex Newman	12/7/1992	Cypress College (CA)
11	C	Xavier Fernandez	7/15/1995	Puerto Rico BB Academy
12	1B	Brandon Dulin	12/29/1992	Longview College MO)	6/11/13
13	LHP	Jonathan Dziedzic	2/4/1991	Lamar University	6/11/13
14	RHP	Chase Darhower	1/12/1993	NW Florida St College	6/11/13
15	OF	Dominique Taylor	8/11/1992	UC Irvine	6/11/13
16	RHP	Kevin McCarthy	2/22/1992	Marist	6/11/13
17	RHP	Kevin Perez	8/1/1993	Miami Dade CC South	6/11/13
18	C	Frank Schwindel	6/29/1992	St. John’s	6/11/13
19	RHP	Andrew Edwards	10/7/1991	Western Kentucky University
20	RHP	Glenn Sparkman	5/11/1992	Wharton County JC (TX)	6/11/13 – $100,000
21	1B	Shane Conlon	2/27/1992	Kansas State University
22	RHP	Andrew Brockett	7/5/1992	Richmond University	6/11/13
23	LHP	Javier Reynoso	10/31/1992	Middle Georgia College
24	OF	Riley King	4/23/1994	Carroll College (MT)	6/11/13
25	SS	Logan Gray	1/12/1995	Rockhurst HS
26	SS	Trace Tam Sing	12/7/1991	Washington State University
27	LHP	Christian Flecha	5/9/1995	Caguas Military Academy (PR)
28	SS	Kevin Kuntz	5/29/1990	University of Kansas	6/11/13
29	RHP	Alex Black	2/27/1991	Columbia University	6/11/13
30	2B	Andrew Ayers	4/20/1991	California St Sacramento	6/11/13
31	RHP	Timothy Zeuch	8/1/1995	Mason HS (OH)
32	RHP	Michael Shawaryn	9/17/1994	Gloucester Catholic HS (NJ)
33	LHP	Dalton Moats	5/24/1995	Park Hill Senior HS (KC MO)
34	RHP	Isaac Anderson	9/4/1993	College of Southern Idaho
35	LHP	Clay Miller	7/1/1994	Bayfield HS (CO)
36	1B	Ryan McBroom	4/9/1992	West Virginia University
37	3B	Will Craig	11/16/1994	Science Hill HS (TN)
38	OF	Jake Matthews	12/29/2004	Ironwood Ridge HS (AZ)
39	SS	John Sternagel	9/21/1994	Rockledge HS (FL)
40	RHP	Keaton Steele	10/30/1991	Missouri

Additionally, you should check out the coverage of the signings by Royals Review, who dug up the reactions by some of the new signees on Twitter just after they’d agreed to terms: it’s interesting to look at.

]]> http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/11/royals-sign-more-draftees-to-join-hunter-dozier/feed/ 0 http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/11/royals-reversing-fortunes-with-six-game-winning-streak/ http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/06/11/royals-reversing-fortunes-with-six-game-winning-streak/#comments Tue, 11 Jun 2013 06:39:57 +0000 Michael Engel http://kingsofkauffman.com/?p=17860

Jun 10, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) celebrates with shortstop Alcides Escobar (2) and designated hitter Billy Butler (16) after scoring in the third inning against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

May was awful. Considering the expectations placed on the Royals for 2013, it was nearly disastrous. Playoff caliber teams really don’t go 8-20 in a month.

There were many reasons for the slide, and we’ve discussed them to death. Nobody wants to relive last month. This is a new one, and the Royals are enjoying a six game winning streak and a 7-2 record in June, a stretch that has them three games under .500 and just five and a half games back of the Detroit Tigers.

Here’s the thing, though. Not much has changed between May and now. Sure, the Royals shuttled Jack Maloof and Andre David out of the picture and brought in George Brett, and perhaps that brought in some extra energy, but as Sam Mellinger pointed out in a Monday column, the offense hasn’t improved since Brett’s taken over. The same offensive holes in the lineup are still there. The power-hitting is still rare.

What they’ve been riding is a great stretch of starting pitching. In the month of June, the Royals pitching staff has given up 13 earned runs in nine games. Their starters have covered 56.2 innings and the only J.C. Gutierrez has given up a run out of the bullpen. Greg Holland has been lights out. Kelvin Herrera has returned to 2012 form. Aaron Crow and Tim Collins have worked key innings. The Royals lead the American League in team ERA.

That’s how you can win games while not scoring runs and the Royals are taking advantage while the group is hot. To an extent, it’s a sort of regression from the low-scoring games the Royals had lost previously. Usually over the course of a big league season, those things even out and the Royals are benefiting now.

While the opportunity is there, they’re taking advantage, doing just enough to get ahead. On Monday, they scraped together three runs on two infield singles, an seeing eye single and a triple on a gap flare from Salvador Perez. It ended up being enough. On Sunday, they looked like they’d pressure Jordan Lyles all day while taking pitches in the first two innings, then he shut them down. They scraped by by stringing some hits together and grabbed the lead.

Now their job is to keep it going.

The pitching staff won’t be this dominant forever. Jeremy Guthrie put on a lot of runners on Monday and had to dance around them. James Shields got timely defensive plays to help him through a game where he wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in other games. Those won’t be the only shaky days they see, so the Royals will have to get more runs.

It seemed they got a boost from Salvador Perez’s return. Not so coincidentally, they started hitting him in the #3 spot shortly after he came back from bereavement leave and the Royals have won each game since.

So far, they’re combining great pitching with the return of a team leader and the emotional boost of a baseball icon in the dugout. That can help grind out some emotional wins while their luck turns. The pending return of Jarrod Dyson from the DL could give them another boost, but what they really need to see is more power from Eric Hosmer and more everything from Mike Moustakas. The Royals are hanging around three games under with four regulars carrying an OPS below .600, which is kind of amazing actually. Imagine if some of those players were hitting.

And imagine if they start now. The Royals are in a strange position of having their two blue chip prospects disappoint while their best overall hitter struggles to reach his typical numbers. And earlier, when Alex Gordon was raking, the Royals couldn’t get anybody on base to take advantage. If things click, they could get interesting.

The calendar can’t be dismissed either. The Royals played some tough teams in May and their record shows that they didn’t respond. Their current streak was started by stomping over the Twins and Astros. Not exactly the biggest challenge. But the Royals still won those games, and they were games they should have won. In May, those things didn’t happen.

Add it up and the Royals are taking advantage of some new advice, an emotional boost, a bit better luck, and a stellar pitching staff while getting a bit easier schedule to open the month. That’s a nice recipe for success.

Or maybe it’s just the Rally Sauce.

Danny Duffy struggled in his first rehab start in Triple-A. He allowed seven runs on seven hits and two walks over just 2.1 innings. However his bullpen did a good job of escaping jams.

Jarrod Dyson did not struggle in his rehab start. Batting leadoff for the Storm Chasers and playing centerfield, he went 3-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored. He also stole four bases (they stole a total of seven bases).

Omaha also hit three homeruns, two from Brett Hayes (who drove in four runs).

NW Arkansas has won three in a row, as they beat visiting Arkansas, 6-5. A four-run bottom of the third gave them the lead they would not relinquish.

In a bullpen game, JC Sulbaran picked up the win in relief of Andy Ferguson (3IP, 4H, 4R, 2ER, 2BB, 3K). Sulbaran had his best outing of the season, as he pitched four scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and a walk while striking out three.

Matt Fields (2-for-4) and Mitch Canham each drove in two runs. Juan Graterol returned to the Naturals and went 2-for-4 with a stolen base.

*In roster news, infielder Alex McClure was sent to Wilmington (replacing Graterol, who was never actually activated in Wilmington).

For the fourth straight game, the Wilmington starting pitcher had a rough outing. Tonight was the worst, as they lost 9-0 in Salem.

Sam Selman allowed eight runs (six runs) on five hits and two walks without recording an out. In that first inning, there was also a fielding error and a passed ball, as the Red Sox sent 12 men to the plate.

The Blue Rocks bullpen was stellar, but the offense could not get anything going. It started with Malcom Culver, who allowed an unearned run on two hits and two walks over 3.2 innings. He struck out four. Antonio Cruz followed with 2.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Robinson Yambati allowed one hit over two shutout innings.

The Blue Rocks offense only collected five total hits.

Lexington came back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat Rome, 3-2. Terrence Gore drove in both runs with a two out single (one of their five hits).

In the 4th inning, both teams traded leadoff solo homeruns (one by Bubba Starling).

Daniel Stumpf rebounded from his worst start of the season by picking up his fourth win of the season. He allowed two runs on just two hits and a walk over seven innings. He struck out six.

Hernandez has dominated Sally batters in 2013 (Photo: Clinton Riddle)

Lexington Legends catcher Cam Gallagher is returning from the DL and is said to be ready to play as soon as tomorrow.

In a follow-up move, Alex Marquez was sent down to an as-yet unannounced team in order to get more playing time. Both Gallagher and Jin-Ho Shin are ranked above Marquez on the depth chart, as well as having significant resources already committed to them.

Other transactions occurring today involved the promotion of RHP Daniel Hernandez to High-A Wilmington. Hernandez had recorded a stellar 0.98 ERA in 27 2/3 innings with six saves with the Legends, thus far.

One move that was likely a result of needing to open roster spots for the newly-drafted prospects this year: 3B Adrian Morales was released. We wish him the best in his future. I would have liked to have seen more of him.

More roster moves are said to likely be coming in the next few days. 

Dozier signed for a $2.2 million bonus to become the newest member of the Kansas City Royals. The announcement came this afternoon at Kauffman Stadium while Dozier was flanked by Dayton Moore, J.J. Picollo and Lonnie Goldberg.

His bonus comes in at nearly a million dollars below the recommended slot value. As we’ve mentioned here, and as Jim Callis of Baseball America noted, those savings are likely to go towards signing competitive balance pick Sean Manaea, who was taken 34th overall. The Royals now have $6,090,700 in available money to sign the other ten players selected within the first ten rounds.

Dozier will report to Rookie League affiliate Idaho Falls after an initial stop at the Royals training facility in Arizona. The Chukars start their Pioneer League schedule on June 20.

After the announcement, Dozier wandered around the stadium and watched batting practice with George Brett. He also spoke with David Glass, Billy Butler and Tigers manager Jim Leyland.

Hunter Dozier, who has linebacker size, will report to the Royals rookie mini camp tomorrow in AZ twitter.com/goldbergkc/sta…

— Joel Goldberg (@goldbergkc) June 10, 2013

Hunter Dozier watches BP with hitting coach and Hall of Famer @georgehbrett prior to Monday’s game. twitter.com/Swanee54/statu…

— Mike Swanson (@Swanee54) June 10, 2013

@billybutlerkc, Jim Leyland and @georgehbrett surround newly signed #1 pick Hunter Dozier prior to Monday’s game. twitter.com/Swanee54/statu…

— Mike Swanson (@Swanee54) June 10, 2013

Dozier and Glass. #Royals … Caption? twitter.com/JoshVernier/st…

— Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier) June 10, 2013

Eric Hosmer and the Royals look to keep their winning ways continue at Kauffman Stadium against the AL Central leading Tigers. Photo Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Series Preview –

Kansas City and Detroit haven’t played one another since a three game series April 23-25 which due to the opener being rained out made it a two game series. The Tigers are also hot having won 7-of-8 including four straight.

Probable Pitching Matchups –

Monday, June 10 (7:10 pm): Doug Fister (5-3, 3.27) v. Jeremy Guthrie (6-3, 3.66)
- Last Wednesday Guthrie snapped a five start winless streak
- This is his first start in 2013 against Detroit and 12^th of his career
Tuesday, June 11 (7:10 pm): Max Scherzer (8-0, 3.24) v. Wade Davis (3-5, 5.66)
- Davis took another no-decision last week in the Minnesota series in which KC won 7-3 after rallying
- In 35 career outings Wade is 9-4 against the AL Central
Wednesday, June 12 (1:10 pm): Justin Verlander (8-4, 3.71) v. James Shields (2-6, 2.81)
- Shields again pitched well enough to win on Friday against Houston but still is in search of a win
- His stat line was another seven inning start which he allowed two runs and struck out six

2013 Results –  

These two met back in April but only got two games in due to wet weather in Detroit. Missouri product Scherzer defeated Davis 7-5 in the first game but in game two KC won 8-3 in 10 innings highlighted by Alex Gordon’s grandslam.

TV/Radio –

Monday and Tuesday’s games are on Fox Sports Kansas City with no TV on Wednesday afternoon, Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler will have the call with Joel Goldberg hosting the pre/postgame show with Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery. All three games can be heard on 610 Sports Radio with Hall of Famer/2007 Ford C. Frick Award winner Denny Matthews and Steve Physioc plus Steve Stewart.

2013 Schedule/Results v. Tigers – Series Tied 1-1

April 23-25, Comerica Park – Teams split the series with Detroit winning game one, Kansas City game two
June 10-12, Kauffman Stadium
July 19-21, Kauffman Stadium
August 15-18, Comerica Park
September 6-8, Kauffman Stadium
September 13-15, Comerica Park

Game Notes –
Detroit
Kansas City

For the week, the Royals get an A-, which is pretty good. There are still issues to work out, which is bound to be the case when Jeff Francoeur, Chris Getz, and Elliot Johnson receive as much playing time as they do, but this series against Detroit is a fantastic opportunity to reassert themselves into the AL Central conversation.

Onto the themes:

Jun 7, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) hits a single in the fourth inning against the Houston Astros at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

Can/Did miss prospects?

I’d like to make this point extremely clear so I’m going to caps it all, which is a move that I think gets too much criticism: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CAN’T MISS PROSPECT. Every prospect can miss. I watched Mark Prior’s career fall apart as a Cub fan in the early 2000s, and at the time, he was a “can’t miss prospect.” That’s why there has never been a number one overall pick make it into the Hall of Fame (though that’s going to change soon). Because every prospect can miss.

ESPN.com’s Joe Werner in an article about the Royals “can’t miss prospects” of a couple years ago believes the Royals, in fact, have missed on a long list of players (Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Danny Duffy, John Lamb, Chris Dwyer, Christian Colon). I have a hard time deciding on when to call someone a “miss.” Is Hosmer a miss? He’s only 23 and so far he’s been worth .9 fWAR in 57 games this year. That’s actually pretty decent, but it’s clearly not the superstar level people thought he would be. Is Moustakas a miss? He’s only 24 but mired in a hitting slump that makes Hosmer’s 2012 look desirable. I think Werner is probably premature in his assessment of all these players as misses, perhaps especially Duffy and Hosmer. I also think he’s misleading in his assessment of Dwyer and Colon as prospects of great note. They certainly weren’t in the same camp as Hosmer or Moustakas and nowhere near “can’t miss” status.

This is a theme for this week for two reasons: 1) Hosmer is hitting better lately and Moustakas continues to flail at the plate. I’m not sure when/if Hosmer’s power will develop. I think it will because we’ve seen it before and the bat speed is still there. I think eventually he’ll find his power stroke, but I can’t be sure of that; I suppose no one can. Lately, he’s been driving the ball for doubles but still not hitting it out of the park. I’m not sure why Moustakas can’t shake this slump. Maybe he needs to go down for a while. At this point, that seems like the only answer. 2) The Royals drafted a new crop of players this week. Many dogged the pick of Hunter Dozier in the first round and some wisely retracted that assessment (like Keith Law) when GMDM was able to land Sean Manaea with the 34th pick, making the gambit of draft-pool-money manipulation clear. I think Dozier will be better than people think, and I love the way he talks about his own personal fitness (reminds me of Alex Gordon). The criticism of him is confusing to me with some labeling him as the most likely bust. People say he’s a good hitter, athletic, and has power potential but he can’t play shortstop, and all I can think is who cares? He can play third base, second base, or right field (he also has a great arm). So, if he can hit and play a few different positions, works hard, and has a good sense for base running, what’s not to like?

This is all in the way of saying I’m not sure we’re at the point where we can say that most of the prospects listed are misses, and we need to try to temper expectations when it comes to players who “can’t miss” (Hosmer) or “will miss” (Dozier). And when thinking about the Royals specifically, it’s also important to see the players who to this point haven’t missed (Gordon, Billy Butler, Salvador Perez).

NERDS!

People made a big deal out of the lineup change Ned Yost decided to employ early this week. In part, the hubbub was over the fact that he sought the help of the statisticians in the front office. Not coincidently, the team has played better with the lineup the nerds came up with, moving Hosmer to second, Perez to third, and Alcides Escobar to ninth. While I think lineup construction is a little overrated in its importance, I’m glad to see the team consulting a group of people whose job it is to see the game in the macro, detached from player relationships and the Yostian, folksy wisdom that apparently believes Getz deserves playing time for his ability to sacrifice bunt (that’s a polemic statement but I really don’t like that he’s on the team and I really don’t like Yost for continuing to play him). Perez has thrived in the three-hole. Butler is hitting well and taking walks in the four-hole, and Hosmer is locked in as well. Maybe, and this is a wild concept I know, Yost should continue to seek the input of the nerds moving forward. Dayton Moore could stand to listen a little more too.

Get Lough, get Lough, get Lough, get Lough

To the window! To the wall! No? Nobody digging Lil John and the Eastside Boyz? Ok. Let me tell you a great fear of mine. Soon, Jarrod Dyson will be back, and Dayton Moore and Co. will have a decision to make between Lough and Francoeur. In fact, I think Dyson’s rehab assignment (and the desired length of it) is the result of wanting to put this decision off. I think if there were no decision to make, Dyson wouldn’t even have a rehab assignment and certainly not a lengthy one. But when he does come back, I have this great fear that the powers that be will find a way to keep Francoeur on the 25-man roster and send Lough back to AAA Omaha. Don’t ask me to understand why they would do this; I have no idea. But I can imagine how they would justify doing it. There are four justifications, three of which are completely ridiculous and one of which is still not good enough: 1) Francoeur is a solid defender in right field. He isn’t but this is what the team seems to believe as he’s been acting as a defensive replacement late in games. In fact, he is a below average right fielder with a great arm. 2) Francoeur is a good clubhouse leader. Hard to lead a team when you’re actively keeping that team from winning. 3) Lough has options and it’s about inventory and the long haul. No, it’s about winning. 4) Francoeur is right handed and hits left-handed pitching well. This is the only justification that isn’t completely untrue, though it’s also not as true as people believe either. Against lefties this year, Francoeur is hitting .255/.296/.333, not exactly Miguel Cabrera like, though good compared to how he’s hitting righties. His numbers against lefties in 2012 were even worse. I think his career numbers against lefties are inflated by good years early in his career, which is why it makes more sense to let Lough or Dyson bat against a lefty than Francoeur.

Over the last week, Lough has been vital to the Royals success. He’s played good defense in all the outfield spots. He’s taken extra bases and hit in the clutch. He’s hitting .293/.317/.431. I’d like to see him take more pitches and draw a few more walks, and I think that will happen when he’s comfortable in knowing that he has a spot on the roster. Keeping Francoeur on the roster when Dyson returns is a colossal mistake I hope they don’t make. I’m not sure what the process for getting rid of Francoeur would be but if they send him through waivers, no one will claim him and he’ll probably end up at AAA Omaha where he truly belongs.

That’s all for this week. I haven’t covered everything so if there’s something about this week you think is super important, leave a comment and I’ll respond by quoting lines from Real Genius.

May 23, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Louis Coleman (31) delivers a pitch in the ninth inning of the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Kauffman Stadium. The Angels won 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Four Storm Chasers pitchers combined in the shutout. Everett Teaford started and allowed two hits and three walks over four innings. Louis Coleman earned the win with 2.1 innings of relief. Will Smith followed with 1.2 perfect innings. He struck out two and threw 15 of his 20 pitches for strikes. Michael Mariot finished out the shutout with the final inning.

Omaha took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a ground out. Adam Moore hit a three-run homerun in their six-run 6th inning. Outfielder Jarrod Dyson went 0-for-3 with a walk, a strikeout, and a run scored while rehabbing.

NW Arkansas and Arkansas were in a battle of their offenses, with the Naturals coming back to win, 7-5. They tied it with two runs in the sixth and took the lead with two runs in the seventh on Yem Prades‘ single.

Sam Runion picked up the win with 3.1 scoreless innings of relief. He struck out three. Brian Fletcher has been on fire since his return from the DL. He went 2-for-3 with a homerun and a stolen base in the win.

*In roster news, utility man Whit Merrifield returned from the DL, but did not play.

Wilmington may have just seen their chances of winning the first half end in Winston-Salem, as they were swept with a 6-1 Sunday loss. The Blue Rocks dropped to six games back of first place and continue their road trip on Monday in Salem (their elimination number is three). It was the third straight poor start from their prospect pitchers.

This time it was All-Star Kyle Smith. He allowed all six runs on six hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out four.

The Blue Rocks offense out-hit the Dash 9-8, but went just 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Justin Trapp, Jared Schlehuber, and Tyler Chism each collected two hits. Their lone run scored on a sac fly.

Lexington had their second game of the week cancelled due to bad weather, this time in Augusta. The Legends now return home to play Rome for three games beginning on Monday. They are 4.5 games back of first place, but three games away from elimination.

Apr 14, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson (1) slides into third base with a lead off triple against the Toronto Blue Jays during the third inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

First, the injury news, as Jarrod Dyson is taking part in a rehab assignment in Omaha. The Royals say they want him to get 20-35 plate appearances there. He’s currently coming back from a high ankle sprain and despite tweaking it a few days ago, hasn’t missed any time. It will be interesting to see what happens once he’s completed the rehab assignment though. David Lough replaced him and has provided a bit of energy to the team, making some good plays in the outfield (though a couple of bad ones as well) and getting hits in five of the seven games he’s played in this month. Jeff Francoeur was losing time to Dyson at the time of the injury and is now losing time to Lough as well. Lough has played well enough to stay with the big league team, Dyson was playing well when he started to platoon with Francoeur, and Francoeur has been mostly awful all season.

Dyson is out of options so the Royals will be faced with the choice of Lough vs. Francoeur.

Danny Duffy has already started making rehab starts, and now, Felipe Paulino is prepared to do the same. He’ll start out in Double A and looks to get 75 pitches in. He’s about a month behind Duffy (since his surgery was a month after Duffy’s). Speaking of Duffy, his first Omaha rehab start is on Monday.

The Royals claimed third baseman Edinson Rincon off waivers from the San Diego Padres. Rincon was injured in spring training and hasn’t started coming back yet. The Royals optioned him to Northwest Arkansas where he’ll start when he returns from a knee injury. He has a little bit of power and isn’t in anyone’s way right now.

To make room for him, the Royals designated Nate Adcock for assignment. Adcock has a 3.79 ERA in 95 big league innings but has struggled in Triple A this year with a 7.09 ERA and a 1.872 WHIP. He’ll probably clear waivers and be stuck back in Omaha, but won’t be on the 40 man roster. The Royals also released Double A outfielder Carlo Testa. He had a .541 OPS in Double A.

Kyle Smith, who might end up in Double A pretty soon, was named to the Carolina League’s All-Star team. Smith has thrown 61 innings in 11 starts, putting up a 1.92 ERA and 1.115 WHIP while striking out nearly a quarter of the batters he’s faced.

Finally, how about some fun? A young Royals fan made a quick play on a ball tossed to a female fan between innings, much to her surprise.

Sign that kid up.

We covered their first selection, Hunter Dozier, on Thursday night, and followed up with a look at Day 1′s other selections, Sean Manaea and Cody Reed. We looked at Day 2′s picks here (Rounds 3-10). Below is the full list of drafted players in order by round:

Overall, it breaks down as such:

• 21 pitchers (13 right-handed, 8 left-handed)
• 3 catchers
• 4 first basemen
• 5 shortstops
• 6 outfielders
• one third baseman
• one second baseman
• 29 college players
• 12 high school players

Additionally, the Royals drafted locally, selecting a player from each of the local universities, taking Shane Conlon out of Kansas State University, Kevin Kuntz (son of first base coach Rusty) out of the University of Kansas, and Keaton Steele from Missouri. The took two Kansas City High School players: left-handed pitcher Dalton Moats from Park Hill and earlier selecting Logan Gray out of Rockhurst. Brandon Dulin was selected out of Longview College which is also in Kansas City.

May was a tough month. So tough. Grueling. But May is over, and all that was left was to talk about the aftermath and pick up the pieces.

We talked about the changes to the coaching staff and what trading Jack Maloof for George Brett means for the team going forward and if it means anything other than window dressing and a PR cover.

We also discussed Yordano Ventura‘s promotion, Danny Duffy‘s rehab starts, and other moves recently. That led to a discussion about whether fans are setting themselves up for disappointment about Duffy whenever he returns. The concern came from Duffy’s activity in social media, his previous work in the big leagues, and the expectation that he’s going to be back to form right away.

Then we covered the weird rain delay game, delved into the PED controversy, and hoped for better days for the Royals.

[Full MP3 available here.]

The Kansas City Baseball Vault is a weekly podcast that covers the Royals, their minor league affiliates and other aspects of baseball in Kansas City.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

Will Smith in Omaha. Photo by Minda Haas (mindahaas.net)

Louis Coleman did not have a successful return trip to the Storm Chasers. He entered with two men on base in the 6th inning with the game tied at 1-1. He allowed both of starter Justin Marks’ runs to score, along with one of his own. He walked three, including two with the bases loaded.

Will Smith has moved to the Omaha bullpen and pitched a perfect ninth inning with a strikeout. He threw 12 pitches, seven for strikes.

On offense, the Storm Chasers collected seven hits, but four were from Irving Falu. Quintin Berry made his first start and went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases.

NW Arkansas lost their series finale to Tulsa by an 8-1 score. Sugar Ray Marimon got the start and took his eighth loss, as he allowed three solo homeruns on the night (6IP, 7H, 4R, BB, 6K). Noel Arguelles pitched the final two innings and allowed four more runs.

The Naturals collected six hits, two from Yem Prades. He also scored their lone run in the 4th inning to make the score 2-1.

Wilmington was shut out in their first game in Winston-Salem by a 5-0 score. All five runs were scored in the bottom of the first.

Kyle Zimmer did not make it out of the first inning, as he only recorded two outs and left with two men in scoring position. He allowed all five runs on five hits, a walk, and a hit batter. Spencer Patton came in and got a strikeout (3.1IP, H, OR, OBB, 5K).

Offensively, the Blue Rocks collected five hits from five different hitters. The Dash starter, Chris Beck, pitched a complete game shutout (he was also named to the Carolina League All-Star team).

*In roster news, the Blue Rocks will welcome back catcher Juan Graterol. He caught 7 of Yordano Ventura’s last eight games in NW Arkansas.

*Right-hander Kyle Smith was the only Blue Rock named to the Carolina League All-Star team.

After Thursday night’s cancellation, Lexington headed to Augusta and lost, 4-0. The Legends collected just two hits, but committed three errors.

Bryan Brickhouse took the loss (one day after his 21st birthday), as he allowed one run on four hits and three walks over four innings. He struck out three.

Five players selected in day two are position players, leaving three pitchers in today’s haul.

Third Round – Carter Hope – RHP – DOB: 2/5/95 – Woodlands High School (Texas)

Hope is a 6’3″ 195 pound righty from the same high school that produced current Royals pitching prospect Bryan Brickhouse. Like Brickhouse, Hope was the third round pick by the Royals, and they would hope that he’ll have success like his predecessor. Brickhouse is currently in Low A enjoying his best season to date.

The Woodlands is considered the best high school baseball program in Texas by Perfect Game USA, so going back to the well for another arm isn’t a bad idea at all. Hope threw 52.1 innings this season, striking out 71, walking 16, and throwing three shutouts in nine starts. Overall, he had a 1.34 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. (note: These appear to be non-league games as recorded by MaxPreps. I’ll try to track down more complete statistics.)

Baseball America says that Hope was more of a third baseman prospect coming into the year, but threw a no-hitter in his first start. He’s committed to Oklahoma State, so the Royals may have to pay up for the full slot amount ($660,900) to keep him from going to college. He sounds excited, though, telling the Montgomery County Courier that it’s a blessing to be drafted.

BA’s scouting report discusses his 88-92 mph fastball and his curve and changeup, two pitches that are still developing. They mention that he has a better delivery than his brother Mason, a 2011 fifth round pick by the Marlins.

Fourth Round – Zane Evans – Catcher – DOB: 11/29/91 – Georgia Tech

Evans has split time on the mound as a reliever and some thought that he may be drafted as a pitcher, but he’s a three year starter behind the plate at Georgia Tech who was second in the ACC in homers this season with 14.

Since he’s been accomplished as a pitcher, he has good arm strength as a catcher, but Baseball America suggests he has more work to do with his feet. A Bleacher Report scouting report likes his plate discipline and thinks he’ll be a solid average hitter. Greg Schaum also likes his approach.

Fifth Round – Amalani Fukofuka - Oufielder – DOB: 9/25/95 – James Logan HS (California)

Fukofuka looks to be a bit of a reach, but he’s not unknown in California prep ranks. At 6’1″ 180 pounds, he’s got an athletic build, and was a two sport star at James Logan High School, also playing wide receiver and defensive back. He hit .390 in 24 games and stood out in the North Coast Section Division 1 playoffs.

After being selected, he said he was “Livin a dream” on Twitter.

Sixth Round – Luke Farrell – RHP – DOB: 6/7/91 – Northwestern University

Farrell is a senior out of Northwestern University, so he should be a quick and easy signing. He was ranked by Baseball America as the fourth best draft prospect in Illinois. As the son of John Farrell, manager of the Boston Red Sox, he shows good composure and has “good makeup”, but he also has four good pitches, including a fastball in the low 90s and a changeup and curve that Jonathan Mayo thinks could develop into decent Major League offerings.

He’s had his share of difficulties, having had multiple surgeries to remove a benign tumor in his neck, first in 2009, then again in 2011. The procedures carried some risk of paralysis, but luckily, he came out alright. In his senior season, finally healthy, the 6’6″ Farrell had his best season yet, throwing 84.1 innings with a 2.13 ERA. He struck out 80 and walked 26 over that span.

VIDEO: Farrell in the Cape Cod League in 2011.

Seventh Round – Kyle Bartsch – LHP – DOB: 3/10/91 – University of South Alabama

Bartsch comes from the University of South Alabama where he’s started and closed games. This year, he had 12 saves and a 3.12 ERA in 26 innings in which he struck out 35 batters and walked just 11.

 His fastball is in the 89-92 range. He’s another senior, so he should sign quickly and start throwing out of the bullpen in short season ball.

Eight Round – Cody Stubbs - 1B – DOB: 1/14/91 – University of North Carolina

If you want a sneak peek at Stubbs, you can check out the NCAA Super Regional game on Saturday between North Carolina and North Carolina State. Stubbs was the MVP of the ACC Conference Playoffs in leading the top-ranked Tar Heels to the tournament championship. He stood out for the team with a .372/.455/.593 line this year, adding 24 doubles and eight homers.

Stubbs offers power from the left side and after four years of high-level college baseball, he’s noted to be mature and has a good work ethic. His power is said to be raw and that he needs more consistent contact, though MLB.com noted that his approach has improved. He’s another college senior, so he’ll likely be signed shortly after UNC finishes their run in the College World Series, and from there he should hit short season ball or perhaps even Lexington.

Ninth Round – Daniel Rockett – Outfielder – DOB: 11/9/90 – University of Texas-San Antonio

With a name like Rockett, it’d be cooler if he were a pitcher, but he’s an outfielder. His brother was a former minor leaguer in the Tigers system who’s currently with Sugarland in the Independent League.

Rockett bats right-handed and played centerfield for UTSA where he made this wild catch:

He hit for average, got on base, and had a good slugging percentage in the West Coast Conference, leading UTSA with a .562 slugging percentage. His overall line was .328/.403/.562 and he added ten homers.

Rockett has had some troubles, however, as he was suspended this season for three weeks for an incident after which he was charged with burglary and intent to assault when he allegedly broke into an apartment and punch a member of the UTSA track team. Apparently, the Royals don’t see that as a red flag.

Tenth Round – Alex Newman – Outfielder – DOB: 12/7/92 – Cypress College

Newman is a Juco player from California who hit well in high school at Gahr High School. He’ll have to hit well since he isn’t much of a power hitter, and looks to be a corner outfielder rather than a regular center fielder.

Rounds 11-40 take place tomorrow, and J.J. Cooper of Baseball America predicts more big names to come off the board than went today. The Royals, like many teams last year, selected multiple college seniors, a creative way to work around some of the cap rules for the first ten picks of the draft.

With the way his offense supported him in his debut, Ventura may have felt like he was already in Kansas City.

When Ventura’s night was done after 5 innings, the Storm Chasers had mustered all of 4 hits and 0 runs, and were down 1-0. They eventually were able to get 2 across in the bottom of the ninth, with a little help from opposing Oklahoma City, so Ventura was able to avoid taking the loss. And that’s a good thing, because he certainly deserved better. In Ventura’s 5 innings of work, he allowed just 1 hit (which came after he recorded 1 out in the 4th inning), struck out 6, walked 4, and allowed 1 run to score. He threw 87 pitches, including 52 strikes. Overall, it was a very strong debut for the 22 year-old right hander.

Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

*I should preface the following report by saying that I am not a scout. I’m just a guy who has watched a lot of baseball and had a seat behind home plate.

Ventura likes to tweet out “#LetsThrowFire” on the days of his starts. And throw fire he did. His first pitch was a 96 MPH fastball, and he was able to stay between 96-98 the entire night. He touched 99 several times and even 100 a couple of times. Obviously the velocity is great, but the most impressive thing I saw was the late life his fastball had. The ball would start to tail away from left-handed batters, or tail into right-handed batters, making a pitch that is difficult to hit even more difficult to hit. It’s always nice to see a guy throw that hard and still have movement, since big league hitters will be able to get around on a straight fastball, no matter how fast it’s thrown.

Standing at 5’11”, 180 lbs, Ventura is a small pitcher. He does look a bit thicker than I was expecting, but he’s still not the body type you would expect for a guy throwing that kind of heat. I’m also no expert in pitching mechanics, but Ventura seems to be incredibly smooth and has an easy delivery. Too often you’ll see undersized pitchers having to really exert themselves to generate high velocity, but with Ventura, it just looks like he’s playing catch. Well, at least until the ball comes out of his hand, at which point it explodes toward the plate.

He did struggle a bit with his fastball command, mainly missing just off the corners, from what I could tell. That’s one part of Ventura’s game I’m sure the Royals want him to work on while he’s in Omaha, as his pitch efficiency needs some refining. Players were able to foul off a lot of pitches against him, which drove his pitch count up, but he also got into 2 and 3 ball counts against too many batters.

While the command of his fastball was off, Ventura seemed to have a very good handle on his curveball, particularly as the game wore on. It mostly sat at about 83-84 MPH with a nice, tight break. He didn’t throw it that much, but I was happy to see him get a player looking at two consecutive curveballs in the strike zone to record one of his strikeouts. He definitely was showing more confidence in that pitch in his later innings, which was great to see. His curveball already appears to be a good pitch, but I agree with all the scouts who see potential for it to become even better.

Mandatory Credit: Minda Haas

I wasn’t as impressed with his changeup, which he threw mostly 87-89 MPH. Ventura wasn’t locating that pitch well all night, and that resulted in him only throwing a handful of them total. He’ll need to focus on it more, but I think it could eventually be a nice 3^rd offering for him.

As Ventura continues to develop, one thing I’d like to see is him mix up his pitches a little more. When a guy has a fastball that is as good as his – one that Storm Chasers’ manager Mike Jirschele says is better than former Royal Zack Greinke’s – he can occasionally become too dependent on it, so hitters may start to sit on that one pitch. If he can keep improving the curveball, as well as bring the changeup up to an average pitch, Ventura should have no problem transitioning to the major leagues.

As part of the new collective bargaining agreement, the Royals were one of the teams entered into a competitive balance lottery and received a pick right after the compensatory picks between the first and second rounds. That meant they would select 34th overall, then again at 46th overall in the second round.

With the 34th pick, they selected left-handed pitcher Sean Manaea out of Indiana State University. Manaea is a 6’5″ southpaw who tore up the Cape Cod League last summer, striking out 85 batters in 51.2 innings and allowing just 28 baserunners. He has a fastball that can hit the mid-to-upper 90s and also throws a slider and changeup. His slider was particularly wicked in the Cape Cod League, but since hasn’t been as effective.

Keith Law of ESPN had this take on his potential:

Manaea profiles more as a league-average big-league starter right now, but a team that thinks he can recapture his look from the summer of 2012 might take him higher than that in the draft.

Law’s first ESPN mock draft had Manaea going to the Royals at #8 overall and grades him with potentially above-average control and feel for pitching.

Baseball America pointed out that his fastball has to be his best pitch since his secondary stuff isn’t consistent. He’s shown problems holding his velocity up as he gets deeper into games and will have hip surgery to repair a torn labrum. The Royals say he’ll be in spring camp and fully recovered after rehabilitation. He also suffered shoulder tightness in his last start at Indiana State. Regardless, Baseball America had the 21-year-old Manaea as the #18 draft prospect going into the draft.

The combination of Dozier and Manaea points to the Royals using the strategy of selecting a lower-bonus player (Dozier) with a higher slot value pick, then moving the savings to their second draft selection (Manaea). The #8 overall section carries a slot amount of ust over $3.1 million. The #34 overall slot amount is $1.623 million. J.J. Cooper of Baseball America also pointed out that if Manaea doesn’t sign, the Royals lose less available money out of their bonus pool cap. Connor Moylan at Royals Review has a more detailed explanation, but the basic idea is that if Manaea was selected at #8 and didn’t sign, the Royals wouldn’t just get to use that slot money for other players, but would lose the $3.1 million amount from their overall cap.

Their 46th pick landed Cody Reed, another big left-hander. Reed is a 20-year-old 6’5″ pitcher from Northwest Mississippi Community College. Baseball America’s scouting report credits him with a clean delivery that should help him maintain velocity. He currently works from 92-95 mph with his fastball, usually fading a bit in velocity as he goes. His secondary pitches – a slider and changeup – need some work but “he’s athletic and coordinated and has shown enough ability to spin it to get scouts to believe in him in a down draft year” according to Baseball America. Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com called him a project, but conceded that a lefty who can hit the mid-90s is going to get attention.

Lexington Legends pitcher Ali Williams (Photo: Clint Riddle)

I wanted to talk to you first about playing at Crestwood High. Was there anything that you picked up as an amateur that you felt helped you the most to get to where you are now?

“I would say the one thing I learned was perseverance. A lot of things aren’t gonna go your way, and you gotta be able to get through it. Baseball has a lot of ups and downs, and if you can’t persevere through the down times then the game is gonna kill you because there’s so much failure involved in it.”

Before the Draft, did you have a preconceived notion as to where you would end up?

“Well, the team I thought would pick me is the Royals, of course. But the Braves were calling the most. St Louis was right behind them, though. When I went to JUCO (at Charleston Southern University) St Louis was calling a lot, again. So I figured I was gonna be a Brave or Cardinal. Actually, the Royals called me the least until the Draft, and I didn’t think I was gonna get picked. I had so many teams interested in me I knew I was going to get picked someday. I just didn’t know how high or how low.”

Some players will tell you that they either felt they were ready to go pro or that they may have been better off going back to school and working on some things, first. At the time that you were drafted, how much confidence did you have that you could fulfill that
position (pitcher) for the Royals?

“I had a lot of confidence in myself. I’ve always had a lot of confidence. At that time, I was still a raw athlete on the mound. Being picked in the 34th round, I felt that was due to my being raw and needing a lot of work, mechanically. I knew once I was drafted I
would get a lot of coaching by guys who could help me a whole lot as far as straightening out my mechanics. So I knew once I got in the Royals organization that the sky was the limit.”

Was there one thing in particular that you felt has helped you out more than anything else, in terms of being able to develop on the mound?

“In 2011 in the Arizona League, being able to work every day on mechanics helped a lot. The AZL is really more of a developmental league, for young guys who really need to hone their skills. For me that was a great experience because I was able to go out there every day and work on things.”

How about as you’ve moved up the chain? How is that different?

“In the AZL it was about working on specific things, and that’s how it is at this level. Some guys say ‘well, look at the stats’, but sometimes it’s more about ‘we just want you to get better’. They might tell you that they just want you to work on your mechanics, or to work on your (secondary) pitches, but as you move up further you’re not really allowed to use your time on the mound to work on those things as you did in, say, the Arizona League. I had two great coaches when I was in Arizona who really helped me work on those things.”

Here’s something I always wonder about when I talk to players: how does it feel to see your face on a baseball card?

“I was a big collector of cards. I still have them. I collected baseball and basketball cards…there were some I would trade and some I wouldn’t. I’m just in awe to have a card and to autograph them. It’s like…wow (laughs)”.

Your relationship to Larry Doby, being his cousin…was that something that was well-known where you grew up? Do you feel like that made people look at you differently (as a player), maybe expect more from you because of it?

“Honestly, I didn’t really know who he was. My father would talk about him sometimes, but I couldn’t tell you, you know, his career averages or things like that. But I knew he was a Hall of Famer, that he played for the Indians, and that he was the second black
player in MLB and the first in the AL. I don’t think people really looked at me differently because of it. My father was a great player, as well (ed.-Ali’s father was a well-known semi-pro player in his earlier years in New York, playing in leagues with Willie Randolph), and a lot of people knew about him, so I got a lot more respect from people because of how great a player he was.”

What was it like to be a part of Spring Training for the first time, for you?

“I didn’t know it was gonna be as big as it was…but when you walk to the field and see hundreds and hundreds of fans taking pictures of you, and you’re walking to the field with the big-leaguers, and they’re speaking to you…

“I grew up a huge Atlanta Braves fan, and then to be able to see Jeff Francoeur walk out to the field beside me…well, it’s kind of hard to walk up and talk to someone who you grew up idolizing. I was also a really big fan of James Shields, and here I am out there on the same field with these guys. It’s crazy (laughs)”

For more about Ali and his experiences as a pro in the Royals organization, The Sumter Item (Sumter, SC) will be printing an article about him in the next few weeks. For you fans back in Sumter, be sure to check it out.

Alec Mills of the Lexington Legends. (Photo: Heather Wright)

Legends pitching prospects to represent South Division

Lexington Legends pitchers Christian Binford and Alec Mills will be making the trip to Lakewood, NJ, for the upcoming South Atlantic League All-Star Game on June 18th, chosen to represent the Southern Division.

Binford and Mills are a big part of the reason that this year’s Legends staff is sporting a league-leading ERA of 2.98.

Binford has a sparkling 2.67 ERA in 10 starts this year, striking out 57 in 57 1/3 innings, walking 13 and maintaining a SO/BB ratio of 4.38/1. Since May 2nd, Binford has pitched a total of 36 1/3 innings and registering a scintillating 1.98 ERA. In that stretch, he allowed only 8 earned runs, walked only 7 and struck out 35. His opponents’ BA is an anemic .218 in that span.

Mills (1.32 ERA in 41 IP), having been the team’s closer for most of the season, was moved into the rotation on May 30th vs. the Hagerstown Suns. In that first start of the year, he pitched 6 full innings of shutout ball, allowing only 3 hits, striking out 5 and walking none. In his next start on June 5th, he again shut out his opponent (this time, it was the Savannah Sand Gnats) for 7 innings, allowing 7 hits, striking out 7 and again walking not a single batter. With runners on the bags, Mills has held opposing batters to a paltry .188 BA, shutting down enemy offenses with a special determination.

Of the 15 pitchers currently with the Legends, 8 have sub-3.00 ERAs. The team’s overall ERA stands at an outstanding 3.04. RHP Bryan Brickhouse (4-3, 2.25 ERA) made a very strong case for selection, as well.

If you want to read the most comprehensive scouting report I could find where no paid subscription is necessary, try this article from Bleacher Report complete with a video of Hunter’s swing.  Here is an excerpt:

Due to his early success as a two-sport star (quarterback), Dozier was only lightly recruited as a baseball player and went undrafted out of high school. Three years later, the 6’4”, 220-pounder has asserted himself as one of the top college infielders in this year’s class thanks to his combination of size, athleticism and powerful right-handed bat.

His speed is the weakest tool rated as average, but his athleticism and smart base running seem to help him make up for the speed some.  He uses the whole field, and has good power with plus power potential, and since he makes good contact could be a very consistent hitter.  Dozier’s defense is rated very highly and his arm is big, which is why third base may make sense.  I wonder if the Royals may try him at second though. If the athleticism allows him to play up and he has good hands, maybe they will give up a little bit of range to try and get a quality bat in the line-up at a weak position a la the Cardinals with Skip Schumaker.  You should also note that he will be 22 in August, so he is older than you would expect from a college junior draftee.

Hunter Dozier was projected to go before the Royals second round pick, so they may have really wanted him and decided it was worth the reach.  Or this is plan B after Trey Ball went off the board one pick ahead of the Royals.  Either way, Dozier looks like he could be a solid major leaguer with some upside if he can develop the power potential.

“Son of a…..”  Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

Rock bottom: are we there yet? I think it’s safe to say the die-hard fans are there…judging from the postgame reactions seen on message boards and via Twitter. And if the franchise isn’t there yet, the team’s “ACME” rocket just malfunctioned and they are hurtling at breakneck speed towards the bottom of a cartoon canyon.

You can see it in the player reactions. You can hear it in interviews. It’s not pretty. And really, it’s nothing new or out of the ordinary for the Royals…with one exception – there was some real excitement heading into this season. Sure, there’s always optimism in the spring…even when the fans know, deep down, there’s no hope.

This year, though, was supposed to be different, which is why the play over the last few weeks has been devastating to fans. This was going to be the year they’d avoid long losing streaks and the generally futility that makes them the doormats of the AL Central. This was supposed to be the year Royals fans had something to be proud of; the year the franchise turned a corner and headed back down the road of success that saw seven postseason appearances in a ten year span. Even after that last appearance (the sole World Series win), the Royals remained a respectable club for a while. Really…from 1971 until 1995, this was a team you could be proud of, for the most part. These last 18 years, though…have been one really long plunge toward rock bottom…and impact is imminent.

Game 1 versus the Twins really drove it home. The batters looked lost (as usual), but last night…it seemed so much worse. Maybe because it’s the Twins. Maybe because the Royals were on the way to setting a record for consecutive home losses (they did, by the way…11 and counting). I don’t know what it was. But fans have had enough. And the players…they’re starting to show it, too.

There were three players who jumped out at me Tuesday night as being especially frustrated: Billy Butler, Lorenzo Cain, and Eric Hosmer. Actually, Butler may have less frustration going on and more…I don’t know…sadness? Depression? He looks beat. He doesn’t show the usual signs of frustration, the barking at umps, etc. He just walks back to the dugout with the look of a 12-year old boy who found out his dog just died. Quotes from Billy such as, “You’re mad for a little bit after the game, but then you just realize you can’t do anything to change it,” drive home his frustration even more. And then, of course, there was this:

Where I’m at in my career … I’m saying, ‘Am I ever going to get to the playoffs? Am I ever going to be on a team like that?’

Hosmer, among others, are more lost than…well…those people from LOST. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Cain and Hosmer, though, are different stories. They are frustrated in a way that shows they are completely lost. Their confidence is gone and their fire looks to have been extinguished. Sure, they do shake their head and argue, unlike Butler, but they seem to be doing so as more of a show…as more of a way to communicate to fans, teammates, and anyone who is watching “How am I supposed to hit when I’m getting screwed by the umps? Did you see that call?” It’s not working though, it’s a bit transparent, and frankly, it makes them look silly. Maybe I’m being harsh, maybe the culmination of a lot of bad baseball is eating at me…but it was noticeable with these two, and I didn’t like it. You’re big leaguers, get over it. A couple of bad calls have not crippled the offense. The offense has crippled itself.

If all that isn’t bad enough, George Brett even seems like he’s preparing everyone for his eventual failure as a hitting coach. Sure, it’s great to have him involved and nice to see him in the dugout when watching a game (by the way, we get it Hud and Phys…George Brett is back, now shut up), but have you listened to his interviews? Yes, they are filled with the typical Brett competitiveness and he says all the right things. He calls out players and says things like the players need to get rid of the “baby bottles,” that it’s time to grow up and play ball. He talks about how much he struggled as a young player, and how Charlie Lau turned it around for him all those years ago. Brett says, “If I can do it, these guys can do it.” The fans love it and get fired up.

Then Brett turns around and says this may not work. He may not be a good teacher. It might not work, but he’ll try. I get it. You have to keep the excitement and expectations around this scenario in check. The general public sees “Brett hired as hitting coach” and they expect an immediate fix. It could take weeks, or months, or the rest of the year for him to get through to some of these guys. He may not have any effect at all. He’s prepping Kansas City for the worst, but hoping (as we all are) for the best. But still…can we wait a bit on those comments? I mean…you have to respect that Brett says what’s on his mind (rather than the typical front office or managerial comment), but keep us fired up a little bit.

Shields has a 2.83 ERA, 1.047 WHIP…and a 2-6 record. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

As it stands, Brett has committed to this job only temporarily. He may be gone by the All-Star break. Maybe it all clicks and he sticks around. Who knows? What I do know is this…if something doesn’t change, and fast, the Royals are going to leave a coyote shaped cut-out in the ground, while the rest of the league passes by, as usual.

I’m not even going to mention how guys like James Shields and Ervin Santana must feel. Shields has a 2-6 record…are you kidding me?

And with the draft on the horizon, Royals fans are left to sit and wonder when this team will hit on a pick. I mean REALLY hit on a pick. When are we going to have that 20 year old phenom hit the ground running and never look back? Seeing players like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, and especially the recent play of Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig (just to name a few) makes the lack of player development in Kansas City that much more evident. But…I’m too depressed to get into all that.

On a positive note, I found a replacement for Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” that seems fitting. Hello darkness my old friend….

Year 18 of rock bottom sure does suck.

May 30, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost (3) and interim hitting coach George Brett (5) watch batting practice before a game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

I’d guess that within seconds of the Royals announcing that George Brett was taking over as hitting coach, the next step was to consider him as a manager. With Ned Yost seemingly having few answers, speculation was that he was close to getting the ax and Brett, a Royals legend, would be right there and ready to assume the role.

Brett’s obviously invested in this team and organization, but he’s never been a coach in any official capacity and he’ll tell you that he’s not really sure what he’s doing yet, either. Even his interim role as hitting coach is looking like a month to month situation. Yet the speculation continues. It’s clear that the Royals have talked to Brett in the past about a bigger role and having the best player in team history in the dugout carries a ton of clout, but that Brett’s never been interested before and recently turned 60 just doesn’t seem like the kind of time for him to start being a manager for the first time.

It’s ironic that he’d likely only be in position to have to make the decision if he first fails in his current role. If the Royals don’t hit, Yost likely gets fired, and sure, maybe Brett steps up to an interim manager’s role. But if Brett’s lessons take hold and Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas get back on track, then the Royals likely win and Ned Yost’s hot seat cools off.

By the way, David Glass gave Yost a vote of confidence on Wednesday.

Other Thoughts

–Sam Mellinger threw out some terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad statistics about the Royals slumbering offense on his blog on KansasCity.com. I’ll only give up one of the figures (you’ll have to go read his post for the rest): if the Royals took on all of Chris Davis‘s 20 homers (the most in baseball so far), they’d still be last in the majors in team home runs.

Just awful.

Part of the problem is that Eric Hosmer only has one homer all year and it’s June 5th. We’ve talked about his swing plenty, and on Tuesday night, he added pitch selection to his list of problems. WARNING: the image built by Twitter user @BHIndepMO is not pretty.

not sure if adding pitch f/x charts makes this graphic any better: twitter.com/BHIndepMO/stat…

— Brandon H. (@BHIndepMO) June 5, 2013

Oof.

–Danny Duffy made his third rehab start on Wednesday as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. He threw 71 pitches and covered 4 innings of work for Northwest Arkansas. In 10.2 innings, he’s walked four batters, struck out 15, and allowed five runs.

Also, his next rehab start will be in Omaha on Monday. It will be interesting to see how he fares against a higher level of competition. He’s still throwing a lot of pitches per inning, and while his walks so far have been limited, his big league career walkrate is 11.6% of batters faced. League average is usually around 8%. If he can limit walks, his strikeout ability could make him a really dangerous lefty as his velocity is already back at his pre-injury levels.

–With the Royals failing spectacularly in May, the questions of getting a jump on the next rebuild are already popping up and Brian Honea at Yahoo Sports asks if the Texas Rangers could be a suitor for James Shields. He floats the potential of trading Jurickson Profar (and perhaps more) for Shields as one move that might land Shields in Texas.

Remember that Texas was in the mix for Shields this winter before the Royals landed him.

I imagine that the Royals are going to wait until they’re very clearly out of it this year before exploring any sort of trade involving Shields, though being able to put Profar in at second alongside Alcides Escobar (or even move Escobar to let Profar have shortstop) is pretty intriguing.

Duffy made his final rehab start for NW Arkansas today in an 11-1 loss to Tulsa. He allowed three runs on five hits and a walk over four innings. He struck out six. With two outs in the third, he allowed a two-run homerun.

The rest of the Naturals pitching staff was lit up from the fifth to the seventh. They allowed eight runs. The lone Naturals run came on Brett Eibner‘s solo homerun, as they picked up just five hits.

After a solid start from Sam Selman, Wilmington beat Carolina, 6-4. After a perfect first inning, the Mudcats loaded the bases with nobody out. Selman escaped the jam. In the third, the Mudcats had runners at second and third base with one out and did not score. The lone run Selman allowed came after two Blue Rocks errors in the fourth.

Overall, Selman allowed one run on three hits over five innings. He struck out two and walked four (all on four pitches). Of his 89 pitches, 49 were strikes.

With two outs in the 4th inning, Tyler Chism came through with a two-run single. In the fifth, the Blue Rocks hit for the cycle. Daniel Mateo homered with one out, his fourth homerun of the season against the Mudcats (his second RBI of the game). With two outs, Jared Schlehuber tripled to dead center to drive in another run (it was a stand up triple for a guy with a bad heel).

Kellen Moen struggled over his two innings of work, before Scott Alexander struck out four over the final two innings to pick up the save.

Following the game, Mateo talked (through translator/hitting coach Julio Bruno) about his homerun and his success against the Mudcats:

Lexington beat Savannah, 4-0. Alec Mills was dominant in just his second start of the season. He pitched seven shutout innings and struck out seven.

The Sand Gnats collected all seven of their hits against Mills. Matthew Murray and Clayton Schulz pitched the final two innings, as Schulz struck out the side.

The middle of the Legends lineup (Mark Donato, Fred Ford, and Michael Antonio) went a combined 6-for-12 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Terrence Gore went 3-for-5.

And yet the Royals continue to insist on making me look foolish.

Once the Twins put three runs on the board, I looked to my cousin and shook my head. I didn’t say anything but I’m sure despair was prevalent in my eyes.

“It’s only three runs, E,” he said. “They’ve got three innings to get back in the game. A single here, a hit batsman and one over the fence and they’re back in it.”

I shook my head and turned back to the game. The Royals frittered away the next six outs and I turned back to him as the Royals let the bottom of the 9th inning slip away like sand through their fingers. At this point, he was shaking his own head in disbelief. “Wow,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You’re new here.”

I say this not to mock my cousin’s positive outlook, but to point out the mentality that Royals’ fans have been forced to take over the past month and change. For almost any other team, three runs with over three innings left is not insurmountable in the least. For the Royals, it is the Great Wall of China.

That being said, it annoys me that some people seem to want to take the focus off of the offense.

Currently the Royals bullpen E.R.A. is 3.11 which is good enough for 9th in the MLB. Their E.R.A. for the month of May was only slightly more than half a run higher than that at 3.71.

So that’s why it’s amazed me when I’ve seen people get mad at the bullpen for blowing the occasional lead we had late in game during May. Yeah, it’s not the best feeling in the world when your bullpen blows a one or two run lead in the 8th or 9th inning. But that’s going to happen a few times during the course of a 162 game season. The only reason it hurts so much is because our offense hardly gives us any leads at all.

Mainly where I’ve seen this bullpen dislike being espoused is on Twitter so my annoyance is partly my fault. You can’t expect to consistently run into educated fans on that form of social networking. But that doesn’t make it annoy me any less.

Don’t take the pressure off of the offense. We are awful because our hitters think scoring 5 runs in a game will somehow make them contract the bubonic plague. They’re at fault here. And I’ll admit, I’m not sure there’s really anything that can be done because we are not assured that Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, et al. are good hitters….we just hope they are.

But if they don’t find some way to pick it up, things will get worse before they get better.

May 20, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Carlos Beltran (3) during an at bat against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

I don’t really want to talk about the Royals making Sam Deduno look like an ace, so I am leaving that to someone else.  For today I would like to talk about how things have been changing for several years in baseball.  Gone are the days when RBIs and Wins were the main factors in who won MVP and Cy Young awards.  Go look at Felix Hernandez and his 2010 Cy Young award with only 13 wins to see a case study of this phenomenon.  Hall Of Fame voting is likely to follow suit.  There is evidence of this change already occurring in internet HOFer and Posnanski favorite Bert Blyleven, who got elected after many years of waiting, and a ton of us internet nerds fighting for him and against Jack Morris.  I think former Royal Carlos Beltran may be one of the players to benefit from the internet as far as his chances to get into Cooperstown.

As I watched the Cardinals series I pulled up Beltran’s Baseball-Reference page just to reminisce and see how good he really has been.  By the time I was done perusing his career, I was convinced that he should be in the Hall of Fame once his career is over.  There are five different measures of a player that B-R lists that talk about HOF norms.  I will briefly cover each one and how Beltran ranks.  Three of them he would either be in or right on the line and the other two he comes up very short.

The three that are good are:

Hall of Fame Monitor – Gives points for hitting key milestones by year and career, like seasons where a player hits .300 or 30 HRs, things like that.  Carlos by this metric has 100 points which is exactly the cutoff for a likely HOFer.

Hall of Fame Standards – Similar to the last one, but focused entirely on career totals like a point for ever 200 extra base hits over 300 for example.  In this Beltran has 43 points and a likely HOFer has 50.

JAWS –  Uses career and peak WAR totals to match up by position.  Beltran is ranked as the 9th best center fielder of all time by this system, ahead of current HOFers like Andre Dawson and Kirby Puckett

The two where he lags are the traditional measures:

Black Ink – Gives points for seasons where a player led the league in things like HR, RBIs, and AVG, and then fewer points for leading in lesser regarded stats like games, walks, or runs.  Beltran has one black ink point for leading the league with 162 games in 2002, and black ink level for a HOFer averages 27 points, so he is a long way off.

Grey Ink – Is the same as black ink but focuses on finishing in the top ten rather than first.  Beltran fares better here at 87 points, but still well below an average HOFer of 144 points.

The two he does poorly in focuses a lot on traditional statistics that are the exact ones slowly being pushed out in favor of stats like WAR.  If you look at Beltran from the newer stats perspective he is much better.  Sure he didn’t lead the league in

May 28, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Carlos Beltran (3) throws a ball to a fan after the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. St. Louis won the game 4-1. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

things like HRs or RBIs, but he was good at those things and a premium defender at a premium defensive position.  He has over 8 career WAR from defense, and if you look at non-traditional “Ink” he also lead the league in offensive war in 2006 and finished in the top 10 five times.  In this he is similar to another player that the internet cognoscenti has pushed for, Tim Raines.  Another reason that these may shift is that there are more teams during all of Beltran’s career than those who played before teams like the Marlins, Rockies, Rays, and D-Backs existed, so it is harder than ever to lead the league in anything.

The last part of the argument for Beltran is that he does have a lot of recognition for being a great player throughout his career.  He has a Rookie of the Year, 7 All-Star games, MVP votes in 7 seasons (4th place highest finish), 3 gold gloves, and two silver sluggers.  He hits for average and power, has one of the best success rates on stolen bases of all time, plays great defense, and has 130 assists from the OF in his career.  That is a five-tool player who has collected 347 HRs and 306 SBs while hitting .283 so far over his career.  He should make The Hall in my opinion, and as the old guard leaves and new BBWAA voters start being populated by internet members like Rob Neyer and Buster Olney (they have to get to ten years of membership before they can vote for HOF), this sort of player will have a much better chance of making it in since these voters will value defense, OBP, and the other stats of the new generation.

Only one question remains for me, and that is which team will Beltran go in for.  He has played for the Royals, Astros, Mets, Giants, and Cardinals.  He spent less than a season with Houston and San Francisco, so they are out.  His contract with St. Louis will be over after this year, so unless he is signed again this off-season he will have only spent two years with the Cards.  That leaves the Royals who he came up with, and the Mets sho signed him to his first big free agent contract.

Carlos spent at least part of 7 seasons in Kansas City and New York both.  He played in 795 games as a Royal and 839 with the Mets.  His best seasons came mostly for the Mets though, as they had him from age 28 through part of his 34 year old season.  That means he wracked up 24.7 WAR as a Royal and 31.2 as a Met, which is closer than I would have guessed.  It is likely that he goes in as a Met, and it is too bad he probably doesn’t remember KC as fondly as KC remembers him.  All that being said, it was fun to watch Beltran when he was here, and he will always be one of my favorites.

Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

As of right now, the Royals lead all of Major League Baseball with a UZR of 21. The second best team in that category, the Diamondbacks, have a UZR of 15.9.

I know. I was surprised, too.

Digging deeper, we can see the impact the defense has had on the pitching staff. The Royals’ staff currently sports an ERA of 3.77, which is good enough for 5^th best in the AL. But their FIP is only the 11^th best in the AL at 4.22. This suggests that the pitching staff is getting better results than one should expect, at least in part due to the defense behind them. Focusing on just the rotation shows a similar pattern. Their 4.37 FIP is the 11^th best number in the league, while their 3.98 ERA is the 6^th best in the league. It’s the same story with the bullpen, too: 3.85 FIP (10^th), 3.22 ERA (3^rd). So overall, the defense seems to have helped the pitching staff.

But let’s take a look at the pitchers individually to see if the same trend holds for all of them. I should preface this by pointing out that for pitchers, it is still somewhat early in the season, so the usual small sample size caveat still applies. (These numbers were pulled prior to Tuesday’s game against the Twins.)

Of everyone who has pitched at least 5 innings this season, Chen, Shields, Santana, Hochevar, Guthrie, Crow, and Herrera all have lower ERAs than FIPs. Only Holland, Collins, Gutierrez, Mendoza, and Davis have lower FIPs, suggesting the former group is receiving a bit more help from their defense than the latter group. Collins, Holland, and Davis in particular should be expecting better future results. Those three all have ERAs at least a run higher than their FIPs, so I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if their actual results begin to improve. I probably have a bit more faith in Collins and Holland in that respect, since Davis kind of resembles another pitcher we saw come to Kansas City and look inconsistent with solid stuff, on his way to putting up strong FIPs with poor actual results. Stats don’t always tell the whole story, of course, and it seems to me that Davis leaves the ball up in the zone too often, which is not a great strategy for success. Throwing too many hittable pitches also can result in an extremely high LD% (Davis sports the 2^nd highest number in baseball among qualified pitchers), which makes the defense’s job much more difficult. He is striking out 7.89 batters per 9 innings, so if he can make some adjustments to keep the ball down more, I’d feel much more comfortable about Davis seeing significant improvement.

Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

On the other end of the spectrum, Chen, Santana, Guthrie, and Herrera have ERAs that are at least a run lower than their FIPs, meaning a bit of regression could be expected, although Herrera’s struggles with the home run ball will likely normalize, and I actually think his numbers will improve, despite what his FIP suggests. I also don’t think Santana will fall off too much as long as he maintains his strikeout and walk rates, because his HR/FB rate is well above his career average, so that could cushion any letdown he receives from the defense, as you can see from his 3.52 xFIP. As for Guthrie, he’ll need to start striking out more batters if he hopes to maintain his current productivity level. I think it’s possible, but he’s relying on the defense far too much right now, and even if his HR rate normalizes and gets closer to his career average, the actual results could still turn out to be poor, as evidenced by his 4.63 xFIP.

Basically, the pitching staff isn’t doing a great job of controlling the things they are able to control. They’re in the middle of the pack in K/9, a little above that in BB/9, and the HR/9 allowed puts them near the worst in the league. But when the pitchers are allowing balls in play, the defense is doing their part by converting them into outs and helping the rotation and bullpen get results.

And as we’ve seen over the past month with the way this offense is going, the pitchers can use all the help they can get.

April 08, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore (left) looks with Royals consultant Art Stewart (right) before a game against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

The MLB Draft begins Thursday night with the first round, then follows with the remaining rounds on Friday and Saturday.

It’s an opportunity to fill a farm system with new prospects, and while the later rounds are important, the attention goes to the first round picks. If you get the right first round pick, it can set up your organization with a top prospect and, if you get the right player, an impact player in a short amount of time. First round picks are scrutinized more than any other, right or wrong.

The Royals select eighth on Thursday in a draft that’s considered to be weaker than most in recent memory. There’s no no obvious number one pick like in years past when Stephen Strasburg or Bryce Harper were selected (but Mark Appel and Jonathan Gray are the likely first two picks), and the top ten picks could go in many different directions. The Royals pick eighth, a spot where they’ll find talent, but it’s less predictable as to who might be available for them.

Back in March, Tony Botts looked at some potential names that may be available. Now, three months later, scouts have weighed in and some players have moved up boards, some have moved down.

Opinions vary widely, and selections before the Royals pick can change what direction they go in dramatically*, so it makes it difficult to project who’ll be available at their pick. That doesn’t stop numerous experts, analysts, and writers from trying though.

*In 2011, Danny Hultzen was a surprise pick at #2 by the Seattle Mariners, who were expected to go after Anthony Rendon with Hultzen possible for the Diamondbacks or Orioles. That could have left the Royals with the option between Dylan Bundy or Bubba Starling. There were reports that the Royals and Bundy had preliminary contract terms lined up and it’d be interesting to see what decisions may have been different as a result.

Mock Draft Results

• Baseball America: RHP Braden Shipley, Nevada (#8 ranked draft prospect)
• Keith Law (ESPN) Mock 3.0: RHP Phil Bickford, Oaks Christian HS, Westlake Village, CA
• Keith Law (ESPN) Mock 2.0: RHP Ryne Stanek, Arkansas
• Keith Law (ESPN) Mock 1.0: LHP Sean Manaea, Indiana State
• Sports Illustrated: OF Austin Meadows, Grayson (Georgia) HS
• Bleacher Report: Stanek
• Minor League Ball: Shipley
• MLB Draft Insider: 1B/3B, DJ Peterson, New Mexico
• My MLB Draft: LHP Trey Ball, New Castle (Indiana) HS

Additionally, the Sporting News listed Meadows and Shipley as potential Royals picks. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star listed six potential selections: Shipley, Ball, Bickford, Stanek, RHP Kohl Stewart (St Pius X HS, Houston), and RHP Alex Gonzalez (Oral Roberts).

A Few Scouting Notes

Shipley is a converted shortstop who started pitching full-time last year. His fastball sits around 92-95 according to Law, who also adds that his changeup is his best pitch. He’s an athletic player and is said to be “fearless“. KC Kingdom loves his athleticism.

Bickford is the high-upside, high-risk pick. He’s got the potential for an upper 90s fastball and is already hitting 95-96 according to Baseball America. He needs to develop a breaking pitch if he’s going to make it as a pro.

Stanek is a local kid (Blue Valley High School) who was a highly regarded pick in 2010 who the Mariners took in the third round. He passed that up to go to Arkansas and now has a chance to be a top ten pick. He’s had some velocity loss and control hasn’t been as sharp as before, but Dutton reported that some scouts think a small adjustment would get him back on track.

Ball has “no red flags” according to Baseball America, and the tall (6’6″) lefty has a mid-90s fastball and a developed changeup. His father kept him from throwing a curveball until he was a junior in high school, but Law reports that he has gotten a feel for it already.

Meadows is a speedy high school outfielder with power potential and should offer good defense as well.

Outlook

The Royals play it close to the vest in general anyway, so they won’t give much indication about where they’re going in the draft. Odds are that they’re looking for a college arm which leans towards Stanek or Shipley, though Keith Law has said that the Royals haven’t scouted Stanek much.

In previous years, it was speculated that the Royals were going to take Yasmani Grandal or Chris Sale (in 2010) and reports even had the Royals ready with an agreement for Grandal. In the end, they took Christian Colon, so a lot of the reports of who teams are prepared to take can turn out to be incorrect in the end.