Royals Rumblings - News for February 15, 2018

At Royals.com, Jeffrey Flanagan touches base with Ned Yost regarding the internal options at first base:

Dozier, 26, might be the most curious option. A first-round pick in the 2013 Draft, Dozier was selected as a shortstop before moving to third base in the Minors. Since then, he also has played corner outfield and first base.

Yost said Dozier’s focus early in camp will be at first base.

”He’ll take a lot of ground balls there,” Yost said. “He’s athletic. He can adjust to the outfield, to first base. We bounced him around a lot last year. But we’re going to concentrate with him at first base early.”

Here’s Rustin Dodd on the same subject:

Former RR overlord Craig Brown looks at why PECOTA loves Nate Karns so much, namely his curve:

Given the swing and miss proclivity of the Karns curve, it’s little surprise it was his most effective pitch. Opposing batters hit just .167 on plate appearances ending with a curve. They slugged a paltry .264 with a .097 ISO. Of the 51 strikeouts Karns registered in his abbreviated season, 36 of them, or just over 70 percent, came courtesy of the curve.

Over the last couple of seasons, Karns has leveled out his usage on the curve. It used to be, he would break one off more frequently against right-handed batters. Now, hitters from both sides of the plate see it with regularity. If Karns is ahead in the count, it’s a 50-50 chance the next pitch will be a curve, no matter what side of the box the hitter is positioned. It’s the same rate when there are two strikes. To say the curve is Karns’s put-away pitch is underselling it.

Back to Flanagan:

At Royals Farm Report, Drew Osborne has a nice piece on what the Royals do with international signees (read: teenage players out of Latin America) after they sign.

Also at RFR (not Radio Free Roscoe), RR-also-scribe Alex Duvall takes a gander at pitching prospect Janser Lara.

BP’s prospect team ranked MLB’s 30 farm systems. The Royals didn’t fare well.

Grant Brisbee is stepping down as managing editor at McCovey Chronicles to focus on covering all of the major league clubs.

Matt Kemp is surprised to be back in LA but is coming into camp 40 pounds lighter.

Craig Edwards argues Roy Halladay’s hall-of-fame case for next year.

Andy McCullough reports that the Dodgers don’t feel like they needed to add anyone to their rotation.

Jeff Sullivan talks about the development at Chase Field sure to make Zack Greinke at least half-smile once.

At Baseball America, Teddy Cahill revisits the college recruitment of future top-100 prospects.

National treasure Julia Louis-Dreyfus has completed her second round of chemotherapy and reported that surgery was a success after being diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

At the Guardian, Carey Dunne profiles Damien Echolls and Lorri Davis as they try to put their lives together seven years after his release from death row as a member of the wrongfully convicted West Memphis Three.

This subterranean vertical farm grows vegetables and flowers for some of New York’s finest restaurants.

Did you catch Chris Rock’s new stand-up special that dropped as a surprise yesterday on Netflix?

Don’t worry, y’all, Kanye is finally back on social media.

*********

On a sad note, one of Alex Duvall’s coworker’s has a teenage son who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. There is a GoFundMe to go towards Jordan’s bucket list fund to try to enjoy what time there is left. If you’ve got the scratch, kick some in. They’re just a few hundred dollars short at last look, so whatever you can spare would surely be appreciated.

*********

The song of the day is “Lawyers, Guns and Money” by Warren Zevon: