Royals Rumblings - News for April 19, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for April 19, 2017

Craig Brown at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City is troubled by Eric Hosmer’s start.

Ground balls all around the infield as you would expect, but there’s just so many of them. Line drives only to the left side of the field. Hosmer is simply not squaring up the baseball. With current on base machine Lorenzo Cain (he’s carrying a .490 OBP in the early days of the season) hitting in front of him, Hosmer has come to the plate with a total of 40 runners on base this year. He’s brought home just four of those runners. He’s grounded into five double plays.

It’s time to worry.

Worry if you’re a Royals fan since Hosmer is the alleged pillar of power in the heart of the Royals order. Worry if you’re Scott Boras because no binder you compile for your client can explain away the stench of his current offensive production. And finally, worry if you’re Eric Hosmer because every game you waste smashing baseballs on the ground, you are literally costing yourself millions of dollars.

Sam Mellinger thinks Hosmer is looking at a $100 million contract this winter.

The list of players who’ve gone over a 120 OPS+ at age 25 or younger in the last five years — as Hosmer did in 2015 — is essentially an exclusive list of baseball stars:

Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Buster Posey, Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew Mccutcheon, Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Rizzo, Freddie Freeman, Kris Bryant, Jose Altuve, Manny Machado, and more...

He is what baseball people often call “a complete player” at a time when baseball people are valuing such a thing as never before.

This is not a case for Eric Hosmer as the best player of his generation. He needs to produce this year, especially, and so far he’s been pretty bad. His range at first isn’t great, and he hits too many ground balls.

But he’s a really good player, who is still just 27 years old, and in major-league baseball, really good young players get paid a lot of money.

Ned Yost thought Raul Mondesi could handle the late inning at-bats last night.

Jorge Soler could be inching towards a return.

Royals fans harbor little ill will towards Madison Bumgarner.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy will miss this series after a minor heart procedure.

Lee Judge says scoring runs is not as big a deal as you might think.

Royals prospect Foster Griffin is highlighted by MLB Pipeline for his hot start.

Umpires might get microphones to explain plays.

Clay Buchholz is probably out for the season.

Could Archie Bradley become a relief ace for the Diamondbacks?

A ranking of the playing careers of all 30 MLB managers.

MLB gets a C+ grade for diversity in hiring practices.

Where college football players come from, in map form.

Kansas City lands some major NCAA events, including a regional final in the men’s basketball tournament.

Amazon is making it easier for companies to track you.

Don’t worry, an asteroid probably won’t destroy the Earth today.

The final season of The Leftovers begins with the surprising Book of Kevin.

Your song of the day is Stevie Ray Vaughn with Tell Me.