Royals Rumblings - News for July 8, 2019

Royals Rumblings - News for July 8, 2019

Jeffrey Flanagan writes that the Royals were pleased with how Jakob Junis looked in his last start before the break.

Junis changed speeds with his out pitch -- his slider -- perhaps more than he has recently. That gave the slider more dip to the point that Trackman picked it up as a curveball several times.

“Trackman picks it up as a curve once in a while,” Junis said. “I did throw it a little slower sometimes today. I threw some good ones. I wish I could get that one back I threw to Robles. But all in all, pretty positive start.”

Alec Lewis details Whit Merrifield’s long road to the All-Star Game.

And that discussion with Whit after the 2015 season was critical. Father and son sat together in their house and spoke man to man.

“I said, ‘Look, I’m all for you quitting because I walked away from it on my terms, and it was probably the best decision I’ve ever made,’” Bill says. “I said, ‘I’ll support you if that’s what you want to do — go back to school, get your degree. But if you’re not 100 percent good with that, you cannot take your cleats off and walk away because you can never put them on again. Baseball is going to go on without you. It ain’t gonna stop when Whit quits playing. It didn’t stop when Bill quit playing.’”

Whit realized then he was not ready to take his cleats off for the final time. He wanted to give the sport he truly loved another shot. He wanted to do everything in his power to force the Royals’ hand, like gain 20 pounds of muscle and produce more backspin in his swing by releasing the bat with his top hand to provide a greater extension.

In his Friday notes, David Lesky talks about the Royals’ plate discipline.

One of the areas where the Royals have always struggled, as everyone reading this probably knows, is plate discipline. There’s some good news and some bad news on that front. The good news is that heading into action yesterday, the Royals chase percentage according to Baseball Savant is exactly in line with league average. More good news is that when you get past Humberto Arteaga at 45.3 percent and Adalberto Mondesi at 38.3 percent, the next highest chase rate on the team is held by a surprising player — Whit Merrifield — at 29.8 percent, which really isn’t that much above the league average of 28.2 percent.

Kris Bubic and Brady Singer each pitched in the Futures Game, which ended in a tie.

Former Royals minor leaguer Cody Decker has retired.

Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen threw a chair in a heated meeting with Mets coaches.

Trades have beome a lot more analytical over the decades.

Jake Marisnick plows into Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy in a collision at the plate.

After a sixth concussion, Francisco Cervelli says he won’t catch anymore.

Does the Expos legacy have any place in Nationals Park?

Questions about fan safety persist in baseball.

To celebrate the USWNT World Cup win, Bleacher Report tweets out, then deletes, an....interesting piece of art.

So what happens to Russell Westbrook now?

The best podcasts of 2019 so far.

7-Eleven Japan shows down its payment app after hackers steal $500,000 from users.

Lionsgate cancels plans for a John Wick/Mad Men/Hunger Games attraction in Times Square.

Your song of the day is Elvis Costello with The Other Side of Summer.