The Royals’ series against the Phillies ended with a thud on Sunday. Kansas City lost by a score of 11-3 in the series finale, which is not precisely the momentum they wanted, especially with a vital road series looming on Monday in Cleveland.
Many factors contributed to the Royals’ series loss to Philadelphia over the weekend.
The defense played poorly. The starting pitching, beyond Michael Wacha in game one, failed to give the Royals the length they needed against one of baseball’s best teams. The hitting was unable to come through consistently in clutch spots. And, of course, the bullpen, beyond Lucas Erceg and James McArthur on Friday night, struggled (though that’s been a recurrent theme for the year).
To the latter point, though, one reliever mainly stuck out this weekend, and not in a good way:
Will Smith.
In two innings of work against the Phillies on Saturday and Sunday, Smith gave up seven runs on seven hits. He did strike out three and walked none, but the excessive number of Philadelphia runs dampened those promising K/BB ratios.
Unfortunately, this rough stretch for Smith is not exclusive to this weekend.
On August 7th, it seemed like Smith was turning a corner. After a scoreless outing against the Red Sox, he lowered his ERA to 3.93, the first time it had been under four in 2024. Furthermore, his WHIP was down to 1.25, and it seemed like his slider was becoming a go-to pitch based on the pitch quality of the breaking offering.
Since then, though, it’s been a nightmare for Smith.
In his last four outings, including the past two games against Philadelphia, he has allowed nine runs on eight hits and two walks in 4.1 IP. That has inflated his ERA to 6.53 and his WHIP to 1.45. In August, he has a 14.54 ERA and 1.85 WHIP. That is arguably worse than the 10.61 ERA in 9.1 IP he posted in March/April, which cost him the Royals’ closer job.
It’s one lousy string of games for Smith, a shame considering his progress in June (0.96 ERA) and July (3.00 ERA). However, it isn’t easy for a team with playoff aspirations and hitting their most brutal stretch of the season to justify a spot in the Royals bullpen for Smith.
It also isn’t encouraging to see his expected wOBA spike up recently, which shows that his gains in the middle months of the season may have been more due to batted-ball luck than improved skills.
The Royals will have the benefit of being able to add another pitcher to the roster when rosters expand to 28 in September. That said, Alec Marsh, starting Monday against Cleveland as the 27th man (due to a doubleheader), seems primed to return more permanently come September, especially with how he’s dominating Triple-A hitters in Omaha.
The Royals need another arm from Omaha beyond Marsh.
Jonathan Bowlan has flaws, but he’s been much better in Omaha since moving to relief in the second half. In 16 IP in relief, he has a 1.69 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with 11 strikeouts to only four walks. He could bring the control and high-velocity stuff the Royals bullpen needs in middle relief.
In addition, Carlos Hernandez has looked better since revamping his pitch mix in the second half. Steven Cruz has a big arm and is slowly looking more ready for an MLB return. Anthony Veneziano is still starting in Omaha, but he could slide into long relief and be the kind of lefty who can give a different look based on his pitch movement profile.
The Royals also have options that could provide value that aren’t on the 40-man roster.
Dinelson Lamet is a veteran who’s looked strong since coming to the Royals organization (3.04 ERA in 23.2 IP with the Storm Chasers). Eric Cerantola has demonstrated strikeout stuff in Northwest Arkansas (31.4% K rate) and Omaha (33.3% K rate). Evan Sisk became the de facto closer to the Storm Chasers after Walter Pennington was traded to Texas and has thrived in the role.
The Royals have options who deserve a chance at the major league level and could impact this club for the remainder of the season and beyond. The Royals can’t afford to have “tryouts” at the Major League level, especially amid a playoff hunt. So, I understand why JJ Picollo is taking his time with Smith, especially considering Smith’s pedigree.
That said, they also can’t just keep throwing a declining Smith out there, even if he is a veteran.
The issue with Dayton Moore was that he held onto players way too long out of loyalty.
Let’s hope that Picollo doesn’t make the same mistake with Smith.
Gentry Gets the Call to Kansas City
In a surprise move, the Royals announced they would place Hunter Renfroe on the 10-Day IL due to a hamstring injury. According to manager Matt Quatraro, he was recently dealing with some nagging injuries this week and tweaked his hamstring on a defensive play in the 8th inning on Saturday.
To replace him on the active roster, the Royals called up Tyler Gentry, who’s been mashing in the second half in Omaha.
In a post today on ” Farm to Fountains, ” I covered the Gentry move and his role with Renfroe out of the lineup.
Here’s a snippet from the piece highlighting Gentry’s success against left-handed pitchers in Triple-A this season.
In 101 at-bats against left-handed pitchers, Gentry averages .248 with a .807 OPS. He does have a better batting average against righties (.259), but his OPS is much lower against them (.762). Furthermore, his BB/K ratio of 0.33 against righties is much lower than his ratio against lefties (0.50).
Thus, Gentry gives the Royals the kind of platoon bench off the bat who can pinch hit against lefties or make starts against left-handed starting pitchers.
Check out the entire piece on “Farm to Fountains.” Don’t forget to subscribe to Fountains+ for exclusive Royals coverage and resources!
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