Royals Rumblings - News for April 30, 2019

Nicky Lopez has been better to begin 2019 than in any season in his career. He’s close.

Meanwhile, Chris Owings went 0-4 with a pair of strikeouts in last night’s loss and is batting .156 on the young season.

Dropping their 20th game in 29 tries, the Royals will look to reach double-digit wins tomorrow night. A rematch of Jakob Junis and Blake Snell will be the matchup. First pitch is set for 7:15 CT.

Matthew Lamar says Chris Owings is a sunk cost, and the best way to recoup some value would be to let him go.

But the Royals will only be able to recoup their costs if they are willing to move on. Signing a 27-year-old former first round pick to a one-year deal on a team that isn’t going to compete but still needs a utility player is a perfectly defensible idea. By committing $3 million to this experiment, though, the Royals are putting themselves in a position to be overcome by the sunk cost fallacy.

Royals attendance is down, but TV ratings are way up, writes Rustin Dodd ($).

For $29.99 per month, individual Royals fans can purchase a Ballpark Access Pass, which guarantees a standing room-only ticket for every game and feature seat upgrades for an additional price. Like a gym membership or a subscription to Netflix, the package renews each month unless canceled.

Merrifield excels by shortening up with two strikes.

“It’s a mindset to give up a little bit, shorten up a little and get the ball in play,” Yost said. “If you put the ball in play, you never know what might happen. If you strike out, you know exactly what’s going to happen -- you’re walking straight back to the dugout.”

Both Merrifield and Yost acknowledge, though, that the industry’s attitude toward strikeouts has changed dramatically.

“It used to be you’d be embarrassed to strike out,” Yost said. “Not really in today’s game.”

Junis shouldn’t miss any starts after being hit by a line drive in the hand.

2018 draftee Jonathan Bowlan has been really good in Lexington (A), so Drew Osborne over at RFR did a film study on the 6’ 6” RHP.

Overall. This was an excellent outing by Bowlan allowing only one base runner. That was on a first pitch slider that got a little slurvy that was looped down the left field line toward the corner.

Bowlan did an excellent job taking the fight to the hitter making them adjust to his fastball. Bowlan was able to control both the inside and outside corner against both left-handed and right-handed hitters. When he felt a hitter might have a read on him, he changed it up either elevating a fastball or using a slider or change up.

Tigers prospect, and former #1 overall pick, Casey Mize threw a no-hitter in his first start at AA last night.

Somebody finally started bullying Lorenzo Cain back, and took a couple of hits away from him.

Vladito’s rookie card sets new record.

Frankie Montas has taken his game to the next level ($).

Eno Sarris sets out to find the best way to throw a curveball ($).

Is Russia using Beluga whales to spy on the US?

Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is resigning.

On this day in history, Adolf Hitler was found dead in a bunker in Berlin.

Also, in 1789, we had the first presidential inauguration in US history.

Your song of the day is “Lance’s Song” by the Zac Brown Band.