Royals Rumblings - News for September 25, 2017

Royals Rumblings - News for September 25, 2017

Alex Gordon has tried to go the other way more lately.

"The whole season has been kind of rough," Gordon said. "But I was just trying to find my swing and really in trying to search for my swing, I kind of got lost with my approach. These past few weeks, I've kind of not tried to think about my swing. Just think about my approach and that's what I'm doing. Just being very selective on pitches."

The results have been encouraging and may serve as a stepping stone for 2018. In his last 17 games, Gordon is hitting .327 with five doubles and four home runs and an OPS of 1.004.

Nine of his 18 hits in that span have gone to the opposite field.

David Lesky at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City looks to the future.

The smart play after this season is for the Royals to rebuild. They can theoretically do it relatively quickly if they draft well and use their international money well (remember, they lose their restrictions internationally for the next signing period) because they will likely have a mid-first round pick from their finish along with three compensation picks directly after the first round for their big three free agents (I definitely wouldn’t give Jason Vargas a QO and if they do, he won’t sign elsewhere for enough to get a first rounder). That’s four picks early plus a huge draft pool. All that said, I think we know that’s not what the Royals are going to do. Maybe I’m wrong here and they’ll surprise me, but I feel like they’ll look at the veterans under contract like Danny Duffy, Salvador Perez and Ian Kennedy and try to build around them and hope for bounceback seasons from Gordon and Jorge Soler and look to build on that and compete faster.

Raúl Mondesí doesn’t have much to say about his father’s political corruption conviction.

“I didn’t pay attention to that,” Mondesi said. “I’m here for baseball. I’ll have time go back home, but right now it’s baseball.”

Mondesi politely declined to answer questions about his father’s case. He did not say when he first learned about the charges, though he said he found out about the conviction last week, when others did.

“I’ll just keep concentrating on my baseball stuff,” he said. “I’ll have time to go home and I’ll figure (all that) out when I get home.”

Nicholas Sullivan at Kings of Kauffman looks at the biggest surprises for the Royals in 2017.

Ian Kennedy had to rush back to join the Royals after being in Kansas City for the birth of his son.

Royals minor leaguer Tyler Zuber blasted athletes for kneeling during the national anthem.

Oakland catcher Bruce Maxwell becomes the first MLB player to take a knee during the anthem.

Former Royals beat writer Bob Dutton - now on the Mariners beat - is retiring. Sam Mellinger has the best Dutton story, though.

Cody Bellinger sets the National League rookie home run record.

The lack of starting pitching may prevent baseball from expanding.

New Marlins owner Derek Jeter has a tough decision to make on Giancarlo Stanton.

Who are baseball’s most improved hitters?

How an electronic box helped aide Byron Buxton in his recovery from a hand injury.

Who will be the next manager of the Detroit Tigers?

What is Tim Lincecum up to now?

Enes Kanter was live on Periscope the moment he was traded for Carmelo Anthony.

The Detroit Lions lost in heartbreaking fashion, then their food caught on fire after the game.

Food delivery has been a surprisingly popular demand for Uber.

What it was like to spend eight months isolated on a fake Mars mission.

James Franco talks about the three-season plan behind The Deuce.

Your song of the day is Charles Bradley with Why is it so Hard.