Royals Rumblings - News for February 27, 2018

Royals Rumblings - News for February 27, 2018

The Royals have the worst farm system for hitters in baseball, according to milb.com.

The Royals have a number of position-playing prospects who project to be solid Major Leaguers, but at this point it’s hard to imagine anybody in the system contending for an MVP award in the bigs. Nick Pratto, a teenaged first baseman with an advanced approach, could prove an exception as his body develops over the next few seasons. Khalil Lee and Seuly Matias give the organization a couple of young, athletic outfielders. Hunter Dozier, who missed almost all of 2017 with two different injuries, has nice power. Catcher Chase Vallot posted a .380 on-base percentage in the Class A Advanced Carolina League last year.

Adalberto Mondesi has adjusted his swing this year.

The first step was changing his hitting approach. Mondesi spent his offseason in the Dominican Republic revamping his hitting mechanics. He opened his stance from both sides. And he worked on waiting for the right pitch, rather than hacking at everything that looked right.

”Yes, I did a lot of hitting work,” he said. “Every day. I changed everything. It feels good.”

Left-handed submariner Tim Hill is trying to make the roster.

“You’re not used to seeing that type of angle and they always vary in different types of movement, so it’s a different focal point and it takes a few pitches to get adjusted to,” Royals catcher Drew Butera said.

New Royals outfielder Michael Saunders is trying to revive his career.

“There’s always somebody that’s hungry that wants your job,” Saunders said. “You can’t get complacent. … You can talk to the best players in the game and they still feel like they have things to prove — not just prove, but improve on their game. So that’s what I’m here to do.”

The Royals will have 155 games televised on Fox Sports Kansas City with the remaining games on FOX or FS1.

AL Central burning questions to ponder this year.

Craig Edwards at Fangraphs looks at free agent contracts vs. how much fans estimate players will get.

Grant Brisbee tries to guess where remaining free agents will end up.

Tim Kurkjian writes that strength is an underappreciated asset in baseball.

How useful are team projections?

MLB fines international prospect Julio Pablo Martinez $100,000.

Felix Hernandez is day-to-day after being struck by a comebacker.

Russell Wilson takes batting practices with the Yankees.

All the trades made before the NHL trade deadline.

Welcome to the golden season of NBA tanking.

How companies scour our digital history for clues to our health.

The self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin is accused of swindling $5 billlion of cryptocurrency.

What is the coldest Netflix show?

Your song of the day is The Gap Band with Early in the Morning.