Royals Rumblings - News for June 8, 2016

Royals Rumblings - News for June 8, 2016

Omar Infante gets why he is not playing as much.

"It’s a business," Infante said. "Merrifield is playing good. Cheslor is playing good. That happens, you know. I’ll just keep doing my job, keep working and wait for my opportunity."...

On Tuesday, Infante conceded that his defensive performance has been below his usual standards. "I feel like I’m struggling with my defense," Infante said. "I don’t know why, but I don’t feel comfortable."

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City looks at the stagnant offense.

True Average, which is our metric for total offensive value scaled to batting average (a .260 mark is always league average), tells the same story as all the other team stats I’ve listed above. Through a third of the season, the Royals team TAv is .257. The offense isn’t near as good as last year (they finished with a .262 TAv), but they can best be described as "a little below average."

Of course, it doesn’t feel that way at the moment.

Robert O'Connell of Vice Sports thinks Eric Hosmer may be the first baseman of the future.

For whatever reasons you like—increased drug testing, a greater emphasis on run prevention, the athleticism of the next generation of players—baseball has gotten lighter and quicker in recent years. That change is most visible at first base. The players who've replaced those old bashers don't instill the old fear, but neither do they play with the old single-mindedness. Maybe nobody in baseball better represents this than Eric Hosmer, the Kansas City Royals' fast, slick-fielding, all-kinds-of-hitting, still-improving star.

Brendan Gawloski of Baseball Prospectus cites Royals prospect Andrew Edwards as a potential future big league reliever.

Just like that, the Royals have a legitimate relief prospect on their hands. He now sits 96-97 with life, is increasingly capable of moving the ball around the plate, and has learned when to go for the jugular and get a whiff. His delivery still isn’t easy on the eyes: He’s a high effort pitcher, he doesn’t always repeat his motion, sometimes overthrows, and all of his weight falls towards first base. It’s not ideal, and if he was a starter, he’d be dinged for his mechanics.

But he’s not a starter. He’s a reliever, a 19th-round freebie that the Royals plucked out of a small conference college program and developed into a legitimate back-of-the-bullpen prospect. Regardless of his ultimate role, Edwards is a reflection of the talent lying around on day three of the draft, and the latest reminder to teams tempted to reach for high-octane relievers early.

The dads of Royals players took some batting practice.

Pete Grathoff thinks the rash of injuries may mean the Royals are cursed.

The list of celebrities invading Kansas City this weekend for the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend continues to grow.

Could this year's Cubs be better than the 1927 Yankees?

What are managers actually doing?

Which teams would dump their newly signed free agents?

The Indians are pretty worried about Michael Brantley's shoulder.

The Hartford Yard Goats may have to spend the entire season on the road.

Mark Cuban is funding research on whether HGH can help athletes recover.

Someone hacked the NFL Twitter account to announce Commissioner Roger Goodell's death.

Take a look at how some schools are pitching themselves to join the Big 12.

Why are more women than men on Instagram?

iPhone has an app that will turn live photos into gifs.

Every Judd Apatow movie, ranked.

Your song of the day is WAR with "Why Can't We Be Friends"?