Youth in Revolt: The 2011 Kansas City Royals (August)
By Ethan Evans

August.
Hot and unlucky.
10-19.
Starting Pitching
(At least 3 games started)
W/L | IP | E.R.A. | K/9 | BB/9 | |
Luke Hochevar | 2-2 | 39.1 | 4.35 | 8.24 | 2.52 |
Jeff Francis | 1-3 | 33.0 | 5.73 | 4.36 | 2.18 |
Felipe Paulino | 1-2 | 29.2 | 4.55 | 6.37 | 5.46 |
Danny Duffy | 0-4 | 26.1 | 6.84 | 6.49 | 4.10 |
Bruce Chen | 5-1 | 36.2 | 3.19 | 6.63 | 3.19 |
Bruce collected almost half of his win total in this month alone while Paulino and Hochevar turned in respectable months as well. This might have been the first month that starting pitching wasn’t the biggest issue for the Royals. Duffy continued struggling with control.
August MVP(s) of the month (SP): Bruce Chen – Wins may not matter but I can’t deny that a 5-1 record looks nice.
August Ugly Duckling(s) of the month (SP): Danny Duffy – Control issues. Learn how to paint those corners, Son.
Relief pitching
W/L | IP | E.R.A. | K/9 | BB/9 | |
Tim Collins | 0-0 | 7.2 | 2.35 | 9.35 | 5.87 |
Greg Holland | 0-0 | 16.2 | 2.70 | 8.64 | 2.70 |
Aaron Crow | 0-2 | 6.1 | 8.53 | 15.63 | 9.95 |
Nathan Adcock | 0-0 | 7.1 | 0.00 | 2.45 | 6.14 |
Blake Wood | 1-2 | 14.2 | 4.30 | 7.36 | 4.91 |
Joakim Soria | 0-1 | 9.2 | 5.59 | 10.24 | 1.86 |
Louis Coleman | 0-2 | 14.0 | 5.14 | 6.43 | 4.50 |
Everett Teaford | 0-0 | 6.1 | 8.53 | 8.53 | 2.84 |
You can’t really fault them for struggling a little bit this month. They’d carried the torch all year. Holland and Collins were good. Crow had an awful E.R.A. while posting a really weird 15.63 K/9 and 9.95 BB/9.
August MVP(s) of the month (RP): Greg Holland – So consistent. Guy had the most innings out of the bullpen this month and was still great.
August Ugly Duckling(s) of the month (RP): Aaron Crow – He had a rough month. He was striking guys out but negating it by walking a ton of guys as well.
Hitting
Avg./OBP/SLG/OPS with at least 40 plate appearances
AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
Alex Gordon | .315 | .384 | .541 | .925 |
Melky Cabrera | .297 | .328 | .505 | .832 |
Eric Hosmer | .269 | .316 | .426 | .742 |
Johnny Giavotella | .237 | .276 | .355 | .630 |
Chris Getz | .233 | .282 | .243 | .525 |
Mike Moustakas | .283 | .324 | .343 | .667 |
Jeff Francoeur | .296 | .331 | .426 | .757 |
Billy Butler | .304 | .344 | .482 | .826 |
Alcides Escobar | .224 | .281 | .374 | .655 |
Salvador Perez | .279 | .315 | .426 | .742 |
Moustakas bounced back from a really bad slump while Chris Getz was the Chris Getz we all know and love. As for Alcides? Well…uh…he was really good on defense?
August MVP(s) of the month (Offensive): Alex Gordon – Rennaissance Man. Seriously…every time I checked a box score this guy was scoring runs and getting on base.
August Ugly Duckling(s) of the month (Offensive): Chris Getz – I suppose this is personal. You can’t say it was Giavotella. It was his first month in the majors. I choose not to give it to Alcides because I have it in for Chris Getz. Okay, fine. Both of them were bad this month. But man, Alcides makes enough plays on defense that I can forget about his occasional hitting lapses. Getz? Not so much.
Overall
Starting Pitching – Wait a minute…you weren’t awful? Bruce solidifies his type B status.
Relief Pitching – When you guys don’t pitch well we lose even more than usual….which meant we lost a lot.
Hitting – Gordon had another great month and Billy Butler stayed right on track. A catcher and a second basemen fresh from the farm went through some expected struggles adjusting to big-league hitting. Check that, Giavotella struggled. Salvador Perez showed he just might have more to offer than a defensive presence and a good arm.
Overall – Not a great month on the whole, but the call-ups of Johnny Giavotella and Salvador Perez were worth noting. As stated above, Perez really started out with a bang and it was intriguing to see how all the rookies at the big league level would finish out the season.
Final month next week. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief.