Royals Rumblings - News for May 1, 2018

Royals Rumblings - News for May 1, 2018

Rany Jazayerli writes about the resurgence of Jorge Soler.

With 17 walks in the Royals’ first 27 games – four of which he didn’t even play in – he’s on pace to be the first Royal to draw 100 walks in 29 years. And, suddenly, he doesn’t look like a mistake. He looks like a potential cornerstone for the Royals to focus their rebuilding efforts around.

It’s dangerous to read too much into April performances, and it’s possible this could simply be a well-timed fluke. (In 2014, Salvador Pérez drew eight walks in his first eight games. He drew just 14 more the rest of the season.) But walk rates stabilize much more quickly than outcomes on balls in play, which is a technical way of saying there’s a good chance it’s not a fluke.

X-rays were negative on Mike Moustakas after he was hit by a pitch on Monday. He is day-to-day.

Kelvin Herrera thinks he is pitching better because of consistent work.

In Herrera’s view, the lack of work also manifested itself late in the season, when he battled through a run of forearm tightness. On two occasions, he exited save situations when the issue flared and caused numbness in his fingers. Herrera believes the issue was, at least in part, connected to long delays between appearances.

“Whenever you have this part of your arm tight,” he said, pointing to his forearm, “the fingers are going to go numb. So, when you’re pitching, you probably don’t feel it. But after one pitch, you’re going to be like: ‘Oh, shit. I can’t feel the ball.’

“You try to get through it, but you can’t.”

Eric Longenhagen at Fangraphs lists his top 24 Royals prospects, topped by outfielder Seuly Matias.

Matias’s exit velos are on par with those produced by Quad-A sluggers who have seven years on him, and he hit a quarter of his balls in play over 105 mph last season. His has a longish swing and possesses poor breaking-ball recognition, the combination of which has led to pretty concerning early-career strikeout rates.

At this age, there’s time for Matias to iron those out. As soon as he does, he’ll be one of baseball’s top 20 prospects because he has game-changing power and some defensive value. If he can’t, the list of big leaguers with this kind of power and similar issues with Ks is still littered with quality contributors.

Adalberto Mondesi is back to playing baseball after a shoulder injury.

In this video, Ken Rosenthal explains why Mike Moustakas may be difficult to trade this summer.

Dodgers shortstops Corey Seager needs Tommy John surgery and is out for the year.

Grant Brisbee recounts how the Orioles once lost 21 games in a row to begin the year.

Jeff Passan looks at all the teams off to awful starts.

What if every MLB team made the playoffs?

The next generation of second baseman is arriving.

Baseball America has their mock draft up.

The Rays have been producing more starting pitchers than any team in recent years.

With a visit to the Negro League Baseball Museum, Tim Anderson keeps a promise.

Sabermetric analyst Sig Mejdal left the Astros to coach prospects, and here’s what he learned.

Hey, let’s look at the 2019 NFL draft board!

Carmelo Anthony is burning his bridges in Oklahoma City.

The founder of WhatsApp is leaving the company after clashing with parent company Facebook over its data practices.

Aaron Sorkin addresses West Wing reboot rumors.

Playing God of War was a cathartic experience for Ben Lindbergh following the loss of his father.

Your song of the day is The Lemonheads with Into Your Arms.