Royals Rumblings - News for April 25, 2019

Whit Merrifield was glad to see the team snap their losing streak.

“Streaks are what they are,” Merrifield said. “We just try to take it one game at a time. Like I’ve said before, we’re aware of the talent we have. We’re aware of who we have, and we’ve got guys that are here to win. But we just haven’t done a good job winning.

“We’ve got to learn how to win games. We’ve got to learn how to score runs late when we need to. We’ve got to learn how to shut down guys when we need to. Today was a culmination of putting everything together. It was an all-around good day for us.”

Tim Hill was sent down to make room for Danny Duffy, who starts Friday.

Ned Yost was thrilled to see Alex Gordon lay down a bunt this week to beat the shift.

“I can die now and be happy because Alex Gordon got down a bunt,” Royals manager Ned Yost quipped. “He’s been trying to do it for two years. Yes I like it! I’ve been wanting him to do it for two years.”

In his Mellinger Minutes, Sam looks at Gordo’s improvement.

But, for our purposes here the strikeout rate is more telling. I do hope you read Newell’s story, because it’s smart and includes more information that we can here, but he found that Gordon had not swung at any pitches 3.3 inches or more out of the strike zone — Statcast calls these “chase” or “waste” pitches.

Maybe it seems like a small thing, that stuff piles up quickly.

In Omaha, Bubba Starling is off to the best start of his career.

“Man, first off, last year was tough, being injured with obliques and finger and whatnot,” Starling said. “I tried to stay positive going into the offseason and just kept working, working, working. And I’m still working with (hitting coach Brian Buchanan) and the guys here. I felt good coming into spring training. I felt confident. I think that was the main thing, being confident up there and having a good approach.”

Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report notes the lack of offense for Royals’ affiliates.

Lee Judge has doubts about spin rate.

Leigh Oleszczak at KC Kingdom writes about Royals prospect Jackson Kowar.

The mock draft at Perfect Game has the Royals taking Bobby Witt, Jr.

Vladmir Guerrero, Jr. will make his MLB debut on Friday.

The Brewers sign free agent pitcher Gio Gonzalez.

Nathan Eovaldi is out 4-6 weeks after elbow surgery.

Shohei Ohtani faces live pitching and may be close to a return as a hitter.

The most anticipated debuts in baseball history.

How Giants GM Farhad Zaidi went from a PhD to running a baseball team.

Merriam-Webster adds “Tommy John surgery” to the dictionary.

No criminal charges will be filed against Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill.

How the NCAA is fouling up the transfer process.

Ten percent of the most prolific Twitter users make up 80 percent of the tweets.

A Stranger Things video game died before it was even announced.

James Holzhauer explains the strategy behind his Jeopardy winning streak.

Your song of the day is Beck with Lord Only Knows.