Royals Rumblings - News for June 28, 2016

Royals Rumblings - News for June 28, 2016

Darin Watson at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City writes about Paulo Orlando's adjustment.

But Orlando seems to have adjusted his approach at the plate. For one thing, his percentage of fly balls has dropped, from 34.2% last year to 30.2% this year. With the slight dip in line drive rate, that means his percentage of ground balls has jumped from 43.5% in 2015 to 48.4% this year. For a speed guy, that’s a good idea.

I am encouraged by Orlando’s increased willingness to hit the ball the other way, too. Last year, he really was a spray hitter; he hit the ball almost equally to left, center, and right field. That might not have been the best approach, because as you can see here, teams liked to pitch to him down and away, and also down and in a little bit.

Yordano Ventura will return from his suspension today.

Royals manager Ned Yost said Ventura will not be on an altered pitch count in his return from the suspension, which caused Ventura to skip one turn in the rotation.

"Eight games is not that huge of a layoff," Yost said. "We’re going to face that a lot when we come back after the All-Star break. "We tried to provide an opportunity where (Ventura) could face some hitters. He threw 30 pitches, threw all his pitches. It was just regular work."

John Viril at Kings of Kauffman thinks the Royals should pursue Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.

He’s a clear impact bat that hits from the left side, even though he shows a significant home and away split due to playing at high elevation in offense-friendly Coors Field for half his games. Even so, Gonzalez is still a career .255/.313/.442 hitter on the road, and is slashing .293/.346/.447 away from Coors Field this season. Pretty much any way you cut it, Gonzalez can flat out hit. Plus, Gonzalez is also putting up better than average defensive numbers in right field at 0.1 dWAR. Over his career, he’s a slightly below average -1.0 dWAR over nine big league seasons.

Joel Wagler at KC Kingdom notes that Salvador Perez is the best catcher in baseball.

Royals super-fan Sung Woo Lee will have a feature film made about his visit to Kansas City.

A fan reflects on an interaction with his son and Alex Gordon.

Wade Davis meets some homeless veterans.

Former Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie signs a minor league deal with the Marlins.

Baseball America previews the top international free agents for the signing period beginning Saturday.

Henry Druschel at Baseball Prospectus proposes reform in penalizing those involved in baseball brawls.

Two Angels pitchers will get stem cell treatment instead of Tommy John surgery.

The Yankees sign a deal with Stubhub to be their ticket resale partner.

Should sports media discuss politics or should they STICK TO SPORTS.

Here is your USA Olympic basketball team.

Quebec city paid millions for an arena and didn't land an NHL team. Sounds familiar.

Microsoft will have to pay $10,000 for forcing a woman to install Windows 10.

The new Panama Canal expansion is a risky $3 billion bet.

Nielsen reveals the typical American watches 4.5 hours of television per day.

Your song of the day is Wilco with "My Darling."