Royals Rumblings - News for March 14, 2019

Royals Rumblings - News for March 14, 2019

The Royals think a chance of scenery can be good for speedsters like Billy Hamilton.

“Their game is and their style of play is completely different than anybody else in baseball,” Yost said of unique speedsters like Hamilton. “But because there are so few of them, they don’t develop their aspect on offense. It’s a different game. It’s not a game where you say just keep the ball on the ground because of your speed. Bull. You keep the ball on the ground because of your speed, the infielders just shorten up and you’re out too. You eliminate all that crap.”

“Speed always seems to develop later because of that. They start to figure out, ‘I’m different, so I’ve got to do things different than everybody else does it.’

Jeffrey Flanagan looks at the competition among pitchers.

In his Mellinger Minutes, Sam looks at whether the Royals can be contenders in three years.

Baseball can move slow. Even the best and fastest moving prospects need a few years in the minors, and then often a few more in the majors before they find their way.

The Royals are trying to speed that up. That’s why they went so heavy with college pitchers in last year’s draft. Whether it’s Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman or high school shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. or someone else the Royals figure to get an impact prospect with the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft.

There’s no way to know exactly how this will go, of course, but if you squint a little bit you can see the outline of a future winner. Mondesi could be a star, and the Royals will try to fill the field with athleticism. They believe they can be better at developing pitching then the last time, and if that’s the case they will be one of the sport’s best teams in run prevention.

Mike Petriello of MLB.com finds the Royals are projected to have the best defense in baseball.

The Royals have three of the top 20 projected defense players in Billy Hamilton, Alex Gordon, and Brett Phillips, and if you’re realizing that’s potentially the starting Kansas City outfield -- at least if Phillips beats out Jorge Bonifacio and Brian Goodwin, and Jorge Soler is mostly at DH -- you’re starting to understand how Moore is hoping that this group is going to be able to use the massive Kauffman Stadium outfield to help his underwhelming pitching staff.

Ther Royals hand out organizational awards.

Leigh Oleszczak at KC Kingdom thinks Whit Merrifield may be the best option in right field.

Owners and players agree to just one July 31 trade deadline and an “Election Day” for All-Star voting.

Reliever Tony Sipp signs with the Nationals.

White Sox uber-prospect Eloy Jimenez will begin the year in the minors.

Jacob deGrom is optimistic about a contract extension.

Jayson Stark writes about how nobody likes 30-year old players anymore.

The Orioles may be one of the most anonymous teams ever.

Legalized sports gambling adds a new wrinkle to lineup decisions.

The Chiefs release safety Eric Berry.

James Corden pranks David Beckham with a statue.

Could we combat climate change by spraying chemicals in the air?

Every Star Trek captain, ranked by competency.

How the band Rascal Flatts wanted to open a chain of restaurants and got mixed up with the mafia instead.

Your song of the day is Phantom Planet with Big Brat.