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The Royals venture into the gravitational pull of the gaping maw of Disneyland to face The The Angels Angels, who have been staring into the sun, eyes dried open, ever since a thumb injury felled their star center fielder Mike Trout. Ned Yost’s merry band of nouveau dong-hangers enter the four-game tilt with a suddenly potent offense, averaging [some much higher number of runs per game than they did in their anemic first month]. How about that?
The game times and pitching matchups are as follows:
- Thursday, June 15, 2017, 9:07 PM CDT - Matt Strahm (L) versus Ricky Nolasco
- Friday, June 16, 2017, 9:07 PM CDT - Ian Kennedy versus Jesse Chavez
- Saturday, June 17, 2017, 7:15 PM CDT - Jake Junis versus Alex Meyer
- Sunday, June 18, 2017, 3:15 PM CDT - Jason Vargas (L) versus JC Ramirez
Royals at Angels pitching matchups
| Pitcher | G | IP | K | K% | BB | BB% | ERA | FIP | xFIP | SIERA | fWAR | rWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | G | IP | K | K% | BB | BB% | ERA | FIP | xFIP | SIERA | fWAR | rWAR |
| Matt Strahm (L) | 20 | 22.0 | 26 | 27.7 | 18 | 19.2 | 4.50 | 5.70 | 4.86 | 4.88 | -0.3 | 0.1 |
| Ricky Nolasco | 13 | 73.0 | 62 | 19.9 | 18 | 5.8 | 4.81 | 5.62 | 4.50 | 4.30 | -0.2 | 0.4 |
| Ian Kennedy | 11 | 56.2 | 49 | 20.6 | 28 | 11.8 | 5.40 | 5.44 | 5.34 | 5.01 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Jesse Chavez | 14 | 74.2 | 57 | 18.2 | 24 | 7.6 | 5.06 | 5.59 | 4.66 | 4.65 | -0.4 | 0.2 |
| Jake Junis | 5 | 17.1 | 13 | 15.9 | 11 | 13.4 | 4.67 | 6.52 | 6.26 | 5.88 | -0.2 | -0.1 |
| Alex Meyer | 8 | 40.0 | 46 | 25.4 | 29 | 16.0 | 4.05 | 4.19 | 4.62 | 4.94 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Jason Vargas (L) | 13 | 81.1 | 65 | 20.1 | 18 | 5.6 | 2.10 | 3.21 | 4.46 | 4.30 | 2.1 | 3.6 |
| JC Ramirez | 15 | 77.1 | 61 | 19.2 | 18 | 5.7 | 4.19 | 4.50 | 4.06 | 4.19 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
One good pitcher going this weekend for both teams combined. Everyone not named Jason Vargas has been within spitting distance of replacement level. This could be a mess of a series. Of interest to Royals fans? Matt Strahm’s first start at the major-league level, though it will be one in which he’s working with a conservative pitch limit somewhere in the 60-70 pitch neighborhood. JC Ramirez has been surprisingly non-awful, and Alex Meyer is on pace for a roughly 1.0 WAR season, which is, of course, an impossibility as 1 WAR pitchers do not exist.
Angels position players
| Player | Pos | PA | HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | fWAR | rWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | PA | HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | fWAR | rWAR |
| Andrelton Simmons | SS | 280 | 6 | 29 | 28 | 10 | .281 | .339 | .407 | .324 | 106 | 1.8 | 2.6 |
| Martín Maldonado | C | 202 | 5 | 18 | 17 | 0 | .257 | .328 | .385 | .314 | 100 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Cameron Maybin | CF | 207 | 3 | 36 | 13 | 19 | .259 | .377 | .385 | .338 | 116 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Kole Calhoun (L) | RF | 280 | 10 | 30 | 31 | 2 | .237 | .325 | .388 | .308 | 96 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Eric Young (S) | LF | 60 | 3 | 13 | 9 | 5 | .314 | .407 | .549 | .408 | 164 | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| Yunel Escobar | 3B | 216 | 5 | 25 | 18 | 1 | .276 | .333 | .412 | .324 | 106 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| Juan Graterol | C | 35 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | .257 | .257 | .286 | .236 | 46 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Cliff Pennington (S) | IF | 92 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 2 | .222 | .304 | .222 | .247 | 54 | 0.0 | -0.4 |
| Danny Espinosa (S) | 2B | 197 | 5 | 23 | 22 | 2 | .164 | .244 | .288 | .235 | 45 | -0.3 | -1.0 |
| C.J. Cron | 1B | 117 | 2 | 10 | 14 | 0 | .229 | .267 | .321 | .257 | 60 | -0.3 | -0.6 |
| Luis Valbuena (L) | 1B/3B | 129 | 3 | 11 | 13 | 0 | .171 | .287 | .270 | .257 | 61 | -0.4 | -0.5 |
| Albert Pujols | DH | 258 | 10 | 19 | 45 | 1 | .232 | .283 | .384 | .282 | 78 | -0.7 | -0.7 |
| Ben Revere (L) | LF | 129 | 1 | 15 | 6 | 4 | .205 | .217 | .299 | .221 | 36 | -1.1 | -1.5 |
The Troutless Angels aren’t nearly as fearsome as the version of the club that has a Mike Trout. As a unit, the Angels’ position players have been worth 5.6 fWAR. That Trout guy was 3.3 of that 5.6. Without him? They just don’t seem that scary. In his absence, they’ve been 9-8, averaging 4.88 runs per game, while allowing just 4.41 runs. Don’t place too much heed in the fact that they’ve outscored their opponents without their superstar. Cameron Maybin has been good, but they still have to play three sub-replacement-level players on most nights. As the Angels are ahead of the Royals in the wild card hunt, this series gives them a chance to gain ground.
Poll
How will the Royals fare in Anaheim?
This poll is closed
-
16%
Royals sweep
(53 votes) -
47%
Royals take three of four
(157 votes) -
22%
Split
(75 votes) -
9%
Angels take three of four
(32 votes) -
4%
Angels sweep
(14 votes)
All stats courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference through action on Tuesday, June 13.
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