KC Royals: Breaking Down the Demotion of Matt Strahm

Tuesday afternoon, some surprise news came out of Kauffman Stadium, as the KC Royals announced they were sending left-handed reliever Matt Strahm to Triple-A.

This roster move came right after the demotion of outfielder Terrence Gore. With Strahm going down also, this very likely means at least one reliever is coming up for the KC Royals.

Some options for the bullpen may include Scott Alexander, Kevin McCarthy, Jake Junis, and Al (insert city in New Mexico that I don’t want to spell). Possible outfielders may include Whit Merrifield or Billy Burns, while a DL move with Jorge Soler is still possible.

The Royals have had no issue with sending high expectation players down due to lack of performance. They sent down Mike Moustakas after an early season swoon in 2014. Yordano Ventura was sent down the year he was the team’s Opening Day starter. Reymond Fuentes was sent down a couple weeks after he was the opening day right fielder last year.

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While the news came at a surprise because of how quick they sent him down, it may be warranted. Here is what Strahm has done in his relief appearances so far.

• 0.1 IP,  2 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, O K
• 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
• 0.2 IP, 1 H, ! ER, 3 BB, 0 K

So far, that makes Strahm good for a 47.25 ERA, with seven walks to zero strikeouts. Not good. Strahm also allowed the first home run in his career, a three run homer to Eduardo Escobar.

People have their reasons for why Strahm has had a rough go so far. Some say injury. Some say mechanics.

I broke down in a previous post on what was wrong with Strahm.

I’ll go ahead and say Strahm is dealing with a mechanical issue. This was obviously something the team wanted him working on down in Omaha instead of the major leagues. Hopefully this will do Strahm well, as he has never pitched in AAA before.

As a matter of fact, Strahm made his debut for the Omaha Storm Chasers last night. He surrendered a leadoff double, but worked out of it, surrendering no runs.

In the long run, I’m not that concerned about Strahm. In all likelihood, he’ll be back in the Royals pen fairly soon. Hopefully when he gets there, we can all see the Strahm that impressed us with a 1.23 ERA in 22 innings for part of last year. The Royals will need all the help too. Having Strahm at full strength would be huge for this team.