KC Royals Series Breakdown and Prediction: LA Angels

Game 2: RHP Nate Karns (0-0, 7.11 ERA, 1.89 WHIP) vs. RHP Matt Shoemaker (0-0, 7.71 ERA, 1.50 WHIP)

Nate Karns will be making his second start in a Royals uniform Saturday night. He will be facing a former divisional opponent for him, as he faced the Angels last year while pitching for the Seattle Mariners, pitching a quality start.

Karns has faced the Angels one other time, pitching 5 innings, giving up four runs.

Not a big surprise here, but the Royals weren’t lying when they said Karns was going to work on his changeup. He threw it a career high 24.4% of the time in his start against Houston. Pitch values tabbed it as the 3rd best game he has had with his changeup.

Taking the hill for the Angels will be Matt Shoemaker. The KC Royals are quite familiar with him too, as he has made four regular season starts against the Royals. He has struggled in those starts too, with a record of 0-3 with an ERA of 11.34, which is the worst of any opponent he has faced.

Since Shoemaker came into the league in 2014, he has been #1 split-finger fastball thrower in the majors, throwing it 27.3% of the time. Two of the five worst games Shoemaker has had with his split-finger have been against the Royals.

Since Shoemaker came into the league, the Royals have been the 5th best split-finger fastball hitting team.

Player to Watch – Paulo Orlando: In his career, Paulo is 3 for 10 off of split-fingered fastballs. As you would expect, he as hit well against Matt Shoemaker. He is 3 for 4 with 2 double off him in his career.