Spring Training Gamethread XXX - Royals at Brewers (split squad)

Real baseball starts next week and the Royals are nearly ready. There are still a couple roster spots to hammer out but the rotation and lineup, at least, seem to be set. Today will be Brad Keller’s final start of the spring as he prepares to pitch Opening Day on Thursday. His spring has been far less impressive than last year’s. He’s struck out fewer in more innings and perhaps even more concerning, his ratio of ground outs to fly outs is less than half what it was last spring. There’s a danger in reading too much into spring stats but if you were off the mind that he pitched above his abilities last season there’s nothing here to convince you otherwise.

The Brewers counter with Junior Guerra. Guerra has been a starter for the Brewers the past three seasons but appears to be ticketed for a spot in the bullpen - at best - this year. His spring ERA is pretty ugly, though, at 5.63. The good news for the Brew Crew is that he’s struck out nine while walking only one in eight innings of relief pitching. The bad news is he’s given up 10 hits. Guerra was the Brewers’ pitcher of the year as recently as 2016 when he started 20 games with a 2.81 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.

Lineups