Eventful July followed awful June for the KC Royals

The MLB draft brought surprises and some promise for the KC Royals’ future.

Also taking place in July was the annual major league amateur draft. Although many fans probably expected the Royals to take a run at top pitching prospect Kumar Rocker, they ignited a social media storm when they instead selected a name few, if any, observers had high on their draft boards—high school hurler Frank Mozzicato.

The Mozzicato selection sent shockwaves around the baseball world, but the Royals valued him for his deadly curveball, and he was 9-0 with an 0.16 ERA and had thrown four straight no-hitters before the draft rolled around.

In addition to Mozzicato, the Royals added more youth when they took plenty of high school prospects on Days 2 and 3 of the draft.

One KC Royals rookie pitcher showed promise by making huge strides in July.

The Royals found themselves in a pitching deficit when Danny Duffy and Brady Singer hit the Injured List in July. The situation resulted in Daniel Lynch getting his second shot at the major leagues.

Lynch, who’d pitched badly three times in May before being returned to the minors, performed admirably, reducing his 15.75 ERA to 6.95 by the end of July. And what better way to turn things around than to defeat one of the teams he struggled against in May?

In his first game back July 25, Lynch blanked Detroit, which scored four runs in 2.2 innings against him May 13, through eight innings, striking out four batters and retiring 10 straight at one point. He clinched his first major league victory that day and the performance provided the foundation for the improved 4.35 ERA he posted the rest of the season.

The victory was just one of Kansas City’s many that led to series sweeps over the Tigers and Brewers. It also paved the way to a six-game winning streak, the club’s longest of the season.

The streak pushed the Royals from fifth to fourth place in the AL Central, a place they’d occupy for most of the remaining season.

The KC Royals dealt away a starting pitcher and a power hitter in July.

Rounding out the month of July was the trade deadline for major league baseball. Although Kansas City fans went through the usual motions of “will they, won’t they” trade Whit Merrifield, it turned out two other players would leave the team.

Despite landing on the Injured List in mid-May with a left flexor strain, and again with the same injury in late June—and being on the List at the trade deadline—Danny Duffy was traded to the Dodgers. But Duffy’s 4-3 record, 2.51 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 65 strikeouts in 61 innings with the Royals was it for his season. He never saw the mound for Los Angeles due to his injury.

The Royals also traded Jorge Soler who, despite his abysmal year with the Royals, was starting to turn things around. He’d belted seven home runs in July—six of them coming during a span of seven games—when the club sent him to eventual World Series Champion Atlanta for minor league pitching prospect Kasey Kalich.

Soler recaptured much of the 2019 form that enabled him to set a Royals single-season home run record with 48 (a mark tied by Salvador Perez in 2021)—he hit 14 homers and slashed .269/.358/.524 with the Braves—and was named 2021 World Series MVP. Kalich went 2-2 with a 4.12 ERA and a 10.53 SO9 in 14 relief appearances for Kansas City’s High-A Quad Cities affiliate.

The Royals were 12-12 in July, a marked improvement over their 7-20 June. How would August go?