The Royals lost two of three at the K to Tampa Bay, which isn’t the most remarkable start for a Royals team competing with the Oakland Athletics for the worst record in baseball in 2023. However, Kansas City ended their series against the Rays on a positive note on Sunday afternoon, highlighted by an 8-4… Read More Despite Series Loss to Rays, Royals Starting Pitchers Show Flashes of Progress
The MLB draft concluded today, and I am going to share my thoughts about the second and third rounds in tomorrow’s post. As a whole, I think the Royals did okay, though, like any draft year, we won’t know the results of this draft for another 2-3 years at the soonest. Instead, I am going… Read More Royals Midseason Report: Five First-Half Pitches to Pay Attention to Based on PLV (Part 2)
The Royals are 26-65, dead last in the AL Central, and 19.5 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians. Safe to say, it’s been a disappointing first half for the Royals and this Kansas City fanbase in nearly every aspect, and that is putting it lightly. Josh Vernier of 610 AM Radio pointed out that the… Read More Royals Midseason Report: Seven Hitter PLV Charts to Pay Attention to From the First Half (Part 1)
One can say it’s been a cruel summer for Royals starting pitcher Zack Greinke. After being named Royals pitcher of the month for May, it was a rough June for the eventual Royals Hall of Famer (and perhaps Cooperstown inductee). In 25 innings of work last month, Greinke not only posted a 7.56 ERA, but… Read More The Royals’ Challenging Dilemma With Zack Greinke
The Royals’ pitching staff has been an adventure this season, and not in a promising way. The pitching as a whole ranks 28th in ERA and 26th in fWAR, according to Fangraphs, as of June 27th. While some growing pains were to be expected under new manager Matt Quatraro and pitching coach Brian Sweeney, the… Read More What Should Austin Cox’s Role Be On This Royals Pitching Staff?
On Monday, Nick Kappel, the Royals’ Director of Media Relations, posted this interesting Tweet regarding the performance of the Royal’s starting pitchers over the past 10 days. Of course, this is a small sample size, and figuring out which pitchers are lumped into this group is hard. Do “openers” like Carlos Hernandez and Josh Staumont… Read More Are Things (Finally) Looking Up for Royals Starting Pitchers?
I am going to the game today, so I hope to have a more in-depth piece tomorrow. However, just wanted to share some quick thoughts through a short “Jottings” post before I headed out to the K this afternoon for game two of this series against the Colorado Rockies. Trade Rumors Already Starting for Scott… Read More “Reporter Jottings”: Barlow Trade Rumors; AG Hurt; Analysis on Guardians Offense
When the Royals signed Jordan Lyles to a two-year, $17 million contract this offseason, it was to give the Royals rotation a veteran starter who could eat innings in 2023 and 2024 until the younger pitchers in the Royals system were fully ready to take over the starting rotation long term. Was Lyles the best… Read More Jordan Lyles is Struggling With the Royals; Will It Get Better Soon?
To be honest, this isn’t an easy post to write, especially since so much has been written and shared about the Royals’ leadoff spot in the batting order. Today, Matthew Lamar wrote a piece on why Witt needs to come off the leadoff spot, and why Edward Olivares should be a candidate to replace him… Read More Bobby Witt, Jr. and His Batting Order Conundrum With the Royals
Brad Keller continues to be an enigma for Matt Quatraro and the Royals coaching staff. The 27-year-old Rule 5 Draft pick is coming off two rough seasons in which he posted a 5.39 ERA in 2021 and a 5.09 ERA in 2022. Over the last two years in Kansas City, he has produced a combined… Read More Brad Keller Remains a Solid Starting Option for Royals Despite Rough Recent Starts