Royals Rumblings - News for May 28, 2019

Per Alec Lewis of The Athletic, Brady Singer, the Royals first pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, is headed to AA Northwest Arkansas to join up with the Naturals. Stay on the look out for more on this development from Minda when her “This Week in the Minors” comes out later today.

This promotion is coming off of one of Singer’s best starts of the season.

The Royals started a baseball game yesterday. They’ll resume today at 4:40, right before their regularly scheduled game against the White Sox.

Over at The Athletic, in celebration of next week’s MLB Draft, Rustin Dodd takes a look back at every time the Royals have possessed a top 10 pick (hint, it’s a lot) ($).

14(tie). Kyle Zimmer, RHP, 2012 (No. 5); Bubba Starling, CF, 2011 (No. 5)

Granted, this ranking could be considered incomplete. It’s still possible that Zimmer and Starling could shoot up this list, even landing in the top 10. But it’s also possible they could find themselves closer to Stodolka and Lubanski territory. Both are at Omaha. Zimmer has finally made his debut, and Starling’s debut could be coming soon — perhaps sometime in the second half — if he continues to produce at the plate.

If you want to hear some of my thoughts on Bubba Starling, tune into ESPN KC radio at 94.5 FM tonight at 6 pm, as I talked about the Royals with Les Norman for nearly an hour on his show “Breakin’ The Norm.”

In one of my favorite articles of the year so far, Ryan makes the case that the Royals are the best really bad team ever.

As arbitrary as the cutoff might be, the Royals have four players that are playing at an All-Star caliber level and they have lost nearly twice as many games as they have won. And that doesn’t include guys like Jorge Soler, who leads the Royals in home runs, or Nicky Lopez, who has only played eight games.

The Royals have a pretty strong history of losing in spectacular fashion, and they are doing it again in 2019. However, this should give us a bit of hope for the rest of the season. Top-40 players aside, they have been outscored by just 37 runs this season. That’s a better run differential than the 25-22 Pirates. A regression to the mean should be expected. In other words, this team shouldn’t lose 106 games.

Over at Royals Farm Report, Jordan continues to keep us updated on the Royals pitching class from the 2018 draft.

The ‘who should be promoted next’ talk seems to focus entirely on Lynch and Singer now. Lynch likely gets an edge because he’s a lefty, or just because has nastier stuff. However, Lynch has a few blemishes this season; including a 4 inning, 10 hit, 5 earned run start on 5/8. Singer, on the other hand, hasn’t allowed more than 3 earned runs in a game all season, and his numbers have been consistently moving in the right direction for over a month now. Singer doesn’t have the flashiness of Lynch, he likely doesn’t have the same overall ability, but he’s showing that he knows how to pitch, in the esoteric sense.

These nine breakout seasons may be for real.

8. Hunter Dozier, 3B, Royals: To Royals manager Ned Yost, this breakthrough season isn’t all that complicated. In Dozier, Yost sees a player who finally trusts his ability, who doesn’t overthink things and who is growing day by day into the cornerstone-type player the Royals envisioned when they made him the eighth pick of the 2013 Draft. He’s on track for a 30-double, 30-homer, 80-walk season.

I want to take this time to plug a special project I’ve been a part of for a while. The guys over at Royals Farm Report released a 2019 Draft Guide that includes 80 draft profiles, a top 75 ranking of Royals prospects (with a new #1) and a recap of the 2018 draft class. You can get it all for just $3.

Seth Wingerter wrote about the elite speed that Northwest Arkansas has been showing off.

The Naturals are unapologetically having Nick Heath steal as many bases as possible.

The idea that a player can attempt to steal almost 60% of the times he reaches base is obscene, and shockingly enough, has been shown to be wildly successful. It allows for a relatively low-OBP player like Heath to gain new value, as essentially a professional base stealer. In comps to other elite base stealers across levels and across history, it appears as if Nick Heath is stealing at a totally unprecedented rate. Over the last two seasons (of which he lead the MLB in steals both seasons), Whit Merrifield has attempted to steal on just 23.6% of base stealing opportunities.

Bill Buckner passed away yesterday at the age of 69. He played for the Royals in 1988 and 1989. He had 2,715 hits and 174 HR in his 22-year MLB career. RIP.

Your song of the day is “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor.