Royals Rumblings

Weekend Rumblings - News for March 25, 2017

Terrance Gore is choppin’ that wood.

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Mar 25, 2017, 10:00am EDT

Weekend Rumblings - News for March 25, 2017

Salvador Pérez was fine getting back behind the plate on Friday after his injury from the World Baseball Classic.

"He looked like vintage Sal," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He looked liked he always does."

Perez suffered inflammation in his left knee as well as a hyperextension in his right elbow.

Both injuries have healed, Perez said. "I felt good with both. Knee was good. No problems."

David Lesky of Baseball Prospectus Kansas City is down on Jorge Soler’s defense.

Jorge Soler is not good defensively. I know that the Royals have sung his praises and have talked about how he’s getting better and all that, but he simply isn’t good, and I believe it will be an issue the Royals struggle with at least during this whole season and maybe throughout his tenure as a Royal. With that in mind, I’m now starting to wonder if Alex Gordon’s time in right field isn’t more about Soler as a designated hitter than him as a left fielder. Why, you might ask? Brandon Moss is actually sort of almost competent in the outfield and what little I’ve seen of him tells me that he can handle playing the outfield, probably better than Soler can. Moss isn’t bad in right field, but he’s been better in left field in recent seasons and I’m sort of thinking that maybe Gordon is getting so many reps in right field to clear the way for Moss to play left.

Terrance Gore talks about how he wants to improve his hitting.

“I don’t do the chopping wood,” stated Gore. “I don’t like to look at it like that. If I thought about it like chopping wood, I’d probably hit the ball like I was chopping wood. I mean, they don’t really mean ‘Hit it like you’re chopping wood,’ but you kind of get what they’re trying to say. They want you to hit down on the ball.”

Which is what he still wants to do. Sort of.

“I’m trying to stay on top of the ball,” explained Gore. “I like that term better. I’m trying to hit down through the ball and create backspin. That’s kind of what they mean by ‘chop wood’ — make the ball do all the work. The pitcher is providing all the velocity, so if you hit down on it, backspin happens. So you’re kind of chopping, but you’re not actually chopping.”

Eric Hosmer and Danny Duffy show off their World Baseball Classic medals at camp.

Hosmer never gets tired of all that winning.

"That was the one that was missing," said a smiling Hosmer, who was back in the Royals' clubhouse Friday morning. "I've won high school, state national things, summer ball, Minor League titles at different levels, big leagues."

But Hosmer isn't about to quit striving for more.

"You can never win enough World Series rings," Hosmer said. "I remember the parade in Kansas City. I'd like to do that again."

Duffy says he would do it again.