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Weekend Rumblings - News for May 23, 2015
Andy McCullough answered a number of questions in his mailbag in the Kansas City Star, including information about Brandon Finnegan's development in the minors.
The Royals promoted Brandon Finnegan to Class AAA Omaha on Thursday. He joined the club two days after recording a two-inning save for Class AA Northwest Arkansas. He will work as a reliever in the immediate present, assistant general manager Scott Sharp confirmed earlier this week.
Sharp emphasized the team’s developmental plan for Finnegan has not changed. He is still building up his pitch count to about 60 and trying to string together stints that last two or three innings. The organization has just shifted their philosophy on when they will deploy him into games. He will aid the big-league club as a reliever this season.
"I don’t think he’s doing anything really different, he’s just not starting the game," Sharp said. "I think it’s just a utilization of how he’s going to be used up here. But we’re still giving him about the same number of pitches, the same number of innings."
Finnegan, the team’s No. 1 pick in 2014, completed a heavy workload in 2014, pitching from the College World Series into the actual World Series. The organization does not want to strain him again in 2015. So it looks like his development as a starting pitcher, in the traditional sense of trying to throw 100 pitches across six or seven innings, may be postponed until 2016.
Former Overlord Craig Brown discusses some random and fascinating factoids about the Royals:
The Royals are second in the American League in On Base Percentage at .338. This is a seismic shift in Kansas City baseball. Granted, this is fueled by an obscenely elevated BABIP of .322. They still refuse to take a walk. At 5.4 percent, their walk rate isn’t just in the bottom of the AL, it’s practically subterranean. In fact, I went all the way back to 1960 in the American League. There wasn’t a single team that finished with a walk rate below six percent. The Royals aren’t just doing things their own damn way, they’re setting fire to conventional wisdom along the way.
Ned Yost: Manager of the Year? Kings of Kauffman writer John Viril thinks so.
Sean Keeler of Fox Sports thinks that a successful series this weekend for the Royals would be a big deal.
This means something. It means something because there are legions upon legions of Cardinals fans in western and central and southern Missouri, too, and they have so long turned Kauffman (and locals) crimson, made Kansas City a home away from home. It means something because after this weekend, the Royals play 14 of the next 20 contests on the road.
It means something because when you beat the White Sox and the Twins, America shrugs and mumbles that she was busy doing something else.
When you beat the Cardinals, America notices.
It means something because a quarter of the way into the party, Royals fans believe. It means something because this is the weekend that could get the rest of the world to start believing, too.
Other items of interest
Restroom signage has been around forever. A group artists are offering a sleek alternative to the sexist and out-of-date imagery today.
How you determine if an area is urban or suburban, and how are these types of cities growing?
Online media streaming is a big deal, and Netflix is not messing around with its in-depth search algorithms.
LinkedIn founder spills the beans on how companies should hire employees and the lies and misnomers that pervade the process.
The Californian drought is a real problem, all the more stunning through fantastic photojournalism.
Weekend classic
DESTROY THE CARDINALS DESTROY THE CARDINALS DESTROY THE CARDINALS
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