Royals Rumblings - News for September 18, 2014

Royals Rumblings - News for September 18, 2014

So yea, Nori Aoki is red-hot.

A red-hot Nori Aoki sets a @Royals franchise mark with 11 (ELEVEN) hits in one 3-game set. http://t.co/HTWtK9os3u pic.twitter.com/l9qi4WSDwj

— MLB (@MLB) September 18, 2014

Andy McCullough Pete Grathoff writes about what a marvelous base-stealer Alcides Escobar has been.

For perspective on how good Escobar has been at thievery, consider this: He is one of four players since 1951 (when caught stealing was first officially kept as a statistic) to have 125 or more stolen bases in his career, while having been caught fewer than 25 times.

Salvador Perez helped a bit last night, but he has been an offensive disaster since the All-Star break, as McCullough points out. But don't expect his playing time to diminish.

Heading into Wednesday, Perez had swung at 52.4 percent of the pitches he saw outside the strike zone. This was the worst percentage of the 163 players qualified for the batting title. He swung at 61.9 percent of the pitches he saw total, trailing only San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval (62.0 percent) for that additional total.

"He’s anxious," Yost said. "He’s too anxious. Trying to do too much. Getting in a hurry."

Yost indicated there was little correlation between fatigue and Perez’s approach.

Baseball Prospectus's C.J. Wittman has an updated scouting profile on Royals outfielder Bubba Starling, and it ain't good.

Bubba Starling was once a heralded prospect. I just don't see it anymore. I don't think he has the ideal barrel skills or pitch recognition to hit enough to reach the major-league level, and all of the rest of his tools have downgraded. Over the course of the season, I've seen his average dig time to first base from home go up by .2, down at least a full grade and a half. Starling's arm is quite strong but his accuracy has diminished and ultimately makes it play down a full grade. He has shown plus raw power but it has yet to transfer to the game and I don't think it ever will. His ultimate hit tool utility will always limit the power and his overall potential. Starling looks lost often and there would need to be a lot of refinements and adjustments before he could become a replacement level player.

But how is he at the read-option?

Rob Neyer speculates on what Royals pitcher James Shields might command this winter in free agency.

Well, sky's the limit for Shields. Six years, $130 million? I don't really pay attention to such things, but it'll be a lot more than the Royals (or anyone else, really) should pay. Finnegan's been great, right? So great that we can imagine him in the rotation at some point next season. But I wouldn't guess in April.

In case you missed it, the Omaha Storm Chasers won their second consecutive AAA National Championship.

Dave Cameron looks at who might be the best team in baseball, and doesn't even mention the Royals!

Really awful news for former Royal Carlos Beltran - his unborn son did not make it to term.

Andy Greenwald at Grantland has his fall TV previews - Part 1 and Part 2. There don't seem to be any shows about a plucky baseball General Manager who defies the criticism of nerd bloggers and the powers-that-be to take his team to an 86-win season.

That stupid Minecraft game my kids always play just made someone $2.5 billion.

The Supreme Court is about to learn that Wu-Tang ain't nothing to...well, you know.

Your song of the day is Europe with "The Final Countdown."