Royals By The Spring Numbers

Monday was the second off day of the spring and I can no longer resist the temptation of looking at the spring stats. Yes, they mean little or nothing, but the Royals will use them to make decisions to finalize their 25 man roster.

The Royals have been hitting, pitching and winning. And these numbers are skewed. No surprise. Still, there are some interesting stats. Maybe this can tide us over until the real numbers begin to accumulate.

Lorenzo Cain - 6 walks

We know the Royals avoid walks. It's like organizational mantra. Yet Cain's value as an offensive performer will be tied to his on base percentage which will naturally tie into his walk rate. However, the highest walk rate of his professional career was 12 percent in Double-A in 2010. He walked just seven percent of the time in Triple-A in 2011 and six percent of the time in limited action with the Royals last summer.

Mike Moustakas - 21 total bases

He hasn't taken a walk this spring, but Moose has been raking. His five doubles lead the team and he's added a home run for good measure. Is this the year he finally finds a consistent power stroke? In just under 1,000 major league plate appearances, he has a meager .395 slugging percentage.

Jeff Francoeur - 8 strikeouts

Yep.

Luke Hochevar - 8 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 6 BB, 8 SO

Interestingly enough, Hochevar has never posted a line like that in a start in his career. Although if he had, you wouldn't have been surprised.

He actually had a 7 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO game in 2010. Close.

Johnny Giavotella - .304/.333/.348
Chris Getz - .320/.346/.480

Getz has two more plate appearances and one more hit. Of course, that extra hit is a home run. Can't you hear it now? "It was pretty even. But I thought that Getzie showed some power this spring. That home run was the difference." Say it in your Ned Yost voice for the full effect.

Wade Davis and James Shields (combined) - 9 IP, 0 runs, 1 sore shoulder

We win the trade, right?

Donnie Joseph - 10 strikeouts in 5 innings

The lefty was considered a long shot at the start of camp, but has whiffed 10 of the 15 batters he's faced. Yet if the Royals are paying attention, they notice his 8.1 Baseball Reference Quality of Opposition which means he's striking out Sacramento Bees.

David Lough - .520/.538/.720

His opponent quality rates an 8.3 according to Baseball Reference, but we know the Royals are taking notice. A long shot to make the roster and despite any numbers will probably fall victim to the option game. It will probably take an injury to get him to KC.

Yordano Ventura - 102 mph

So sayeth the Arizona radar.