Royals Rumblings - News for May 24, 2019

Royals Rumblings - News for May 24, 2019

Scott Barlow talks about his road to becoming a solid reliever.

The second step came when Barlow threw in front of Gigantes del Cibao pitching coach Franklin Bravo. Barlow and Bravo, a minor-league pitching coach in the Washington Nationals farm system, had no prior relationship.

Bravo’s main message to Barlow was to never throw a pitch without believing in it 100 percent, and there was no fooling him.

“During bullpens he would talk to me about that side of it, and I think that really resonated,” Barlow said. “We’d do bullpens, and he would know right away if I threw a pitch and it wasn’t with conviction. It was weird. He was like reading my mind.”

Alec Lewis at The Athletic talks to Wilmington pitching coach Steve Luebber about his amazing rotation.

Luebber, who joined the Royals’ organization in 2006 and who pitched five years in the majors, says Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo hinted at the move during those September meetings. The plan became official over the winter. Luebber would focus on Jackson Kowar, Brady Singer and Daniel Lynch as the pitching coach at Class A Wilmington.

“When I watch these guys, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt,” Luebber says. “Am I watching them on their best day or their worst day? And even on their worst day, you see some good things. You try to focus on those.”...

“They’re the three musketeers right now,” Luebber says. “I think they feed off each other performance-wise.”

Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com has a new mock draft up.

2. Royals: Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Colleyville (Texas) Heritage HS

The only reason to change this would be if the Orioles took Witt instead, leaving Kansas City its pick of the top college hitters should it choose to go in that direction.

Clint Scoles has a few more names the Royals should take a look at in the draft.

Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report writes about Evan Steele’s season debut.

Reggie Sanders and Kyle Vena will represent the Royals at the draft.

The Blue Jays will call up Cavan Biggio, son of Craig Biggio.

Yoenis Cespedes is out for the year after having ankle surgery.

Ten low-cost free agent deals paying dividends so far this year.

MLB teams’ involvement with Cuban players is under scrutiny from the Justice Department.

Why PECOTA projections were so wrong about the Cubs.

This isn’t a particularly deep draft this year.

The Angels have a home game rained out for the first time in four years.

Auburn loses in the SEC tournament when a wild pitch scores two runs.

Did Cal Ripken, Jr. sign this painting by John Wayne Gacy?

The Lonely Island comedy team releases a special based on the Oakland A’s “Bash Brothers.”

Why Michigan’s hiring of Juwan Howard is a risk worth taking.

The men who practice against WNBA teams love losing.

The world has an e-waste problem.

Japan wants to change the order of how they say names.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Quentin Tarantino’s homage to the summer of 1969

Your song of the day is Sex Pistols with Holidays in the Sun.