FanPost

Royals Fan in Washington (State): Some Observations

I've been following this site pretty closely for awhile now, and now I feel like I have some contributions to make.

First off, you're probably confused as to why I'm a Royals fan in Spokane, Washington. Well, it really wasn't my choice. See my parents named me Brett Jackson Ward (yes, after George and Bo) and being a Royals fan was thrust upon me. The funny thing was that the Royals weren't their favorite team, they were both just huge sports fans and loved George and Bo as athletes.

Anyways, I have been watching the games on my friends' MLB network log in, and there are some observations I have.

I'm guessing a lot of you missed the game tonight because of the west coast starting time. Fortunately, that was a great time for me to sit back and watch on my laptop. I coach baseball up here, so I always am actively observing the game when I'm watching--I don't just sit back and watch. Here are my observations:

Duffy: I noticed a few thing with him. One interesting thing was that it seemed he pitched his best whenever he pitched backwards. When he threw his off-speed first pitch or second, it seemed to get across more often than when he waited until later in the count, whether he was ahead or even with the batter. Another thing I noticed was that he couldn't locate whenever he had a fast runner on the base-paths. These two tidbits are tied together for me. The issue with Duffy seems to be a pretty simple one, he doesn't pitch well when he is tense. A lot of pitchers thrive when the emotions are running high. Right now, he is tensing up, which leaves his fastballs up and leaves him unable to locate the offspeed. I'm sure this is an issue that will be resolved with more innings and more work. Other than that I thought he pitched pretty well tonight, and a lot better than he had.

Hosmer: Love watching him play. He has definitely turned into my man crush over here. Love his natural swing and the torque he has on it. I also think that his little slump should be easy to come out of. The pitchers are being smart as they are keying in and throwing him away pitch after pitch. Too often he is either not reaching the outside pitch or he is way out in front of it. The hit that broke his 0-16 stretch today was a perfect example of both, as he had to do the classic ass out, hands out swing to get a piece of it. His timing was better on his last AB, but if I were his hitting coach I would make a small little adjustment. He has the open stance, which is fine, but I think if he ended his stride just an inch more to the left and lifted his leg for a little longer he would be able to not only reach the outside pitch more effectively but also wait back on the off-speed more efficiently as well.

Moustakas: Obviously I am excited about him, but his swing is sort of "blah" for me. He doesn't have the insane bat speed like Hosmer, the hard swing of a Billy Butler, or really anything that makes him stand out. He does have a very solid fundamental swing though, especially when he isn't leaning forward.

Gordon: He has always been my favorite Royals, so it's been awesome to see him have a better year this year. I think his problem is the opposite of Hosmer--he seems to be behind everything, especially the fastballs, and he is having trouble getting his hands inside of the inside pitch. My solution for him (if I were his coach) would be to have him open his stance up an inch or so. When he strides he is so closed it seems like it would be impossible for him to get his hands inside the ball, and opening up just a bit could help with that.

Well, that's all I have for tonight. I hope some people found this interesting.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.