Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for April 15, 2019

Time for a ten-game winning streak!

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Apr 15, 2019, 8:00am EDT

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Royals Rumblings - News for April 15, 2019

Hunter Dozier is feeling it at the plate right now.

“I think (I’m just getting) a little bit better luck,” Dozier said. “I saw the ball really well in Detroit. Nothing really fell. I’ve been seeing the ball well all season. Just early on, nothing was falling. Right now, I’m finding hits.”

Heath Fillmyer will stay in the rotation, and will start Monday in Chicago.

“I wanted to give him another shot, simple as that,” Yost said. “He pitched really, really well for us last year, so give him another shot. I wanted to give him another opportunity to pitch and we’ll see what he does.”

Rustin Dodd writes about a rejuvenated Alex Gordon.

The feeling, Gordon says, stems from a simple mechanical adjustment last August. He changed his posture at the plate. He focused on his approach. He leaned on the Royals’ committee of hitting gurus, including hitting coach Terry Bradshaw and coaches Pedro Grifol and Dale Sveum, each of whom has held the title of Royals hitting coach.

“It was getting my posture back, staying straight up,” Gordon said. “It has allowed me to be more athletic in the box and use my hands a lot better. I don’t know how I got to it, but I started hunching over. That’s just not a good place to be, and I just couldn’t get out of it.”

Jeffrey Flanagan writes about how players learn about big league call-ups, with a Zack Greinke story included.

Greinke, after a very long pause: “I don’t know. Do you think if we asked them they would let me go back to Single-A and be a shortstop? I think I can be a pretty good shortstop.”

Jirschele, after an equally long pause: “What in the world are you talking about? Are you kidding me?”

Greinke: “I think I want to play shortstop. I was thinking I could start at Single-A and then, you know, work my way up.”

Jirschele: “Zack, this makes no sense. What are you talking about? They’re calling you to the big leagues. The big leagues! This is your dream. This is everyone’s dream.”

Greinke: “Oh, OK.”

And with that, Greinke got up from his chair and went back into the clubhouse. To this day, Jirschele doesn’t know if Greinke was serious or not.

How Chris Davis snapped and embraced baseball’s epic oh-fer.

Francisco Lindor will begin a rehab assignment.

Craig Kimbrel’s asking price may be falling.

Free agents to pitch to contact are finding it tough in the age of the strikeout.

The Mets may have to look for more rotation options after Jason Vargas’ terrible start.

Rookie Peter Alonso might be the beefy slugger the Mets need right now.

Brad Miller had choice comments about the Indians after they let him go.

Could players accidentally be ingesting substances that are banned by baseball?

Ron Darling will take a leave of absence from broadcasting after discovering a mass in his chest.

MLB is trying to bring more women into front office roles.

Are baseball-first academies the wave of the future?

A sports bettor made $1.2 million due to Tiger Woods winning the Masters.