Royals Rumblings - News for September 18, 2019

Chris Haft of MLB.com talked to Jorge Soler about his quest for the American League home run lead.

“All I want to do is stay focused and swing at good pitches,” Soler said through a translator. “I’m not worried about that other stuff. I’m not going to worry about who’s leading or not leading. All I want to do is to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Danny Duffy gives advice to the lower-minors championship teams, via Lynn Worthy at the Kansas City Star:

While Duffy acknowledged the major leagues are a “way different animal,” he also stressed the importance of soaking in the triumphs along the way to the majors. In his estimation, being the best team at any level shouldn’t be downplayed.

“It’s really important to enjoy and take in everything you accomplish as a unit,” Duffy said. “It’s really cool. Those kids are going to remember that for the rest of their lives. If everything works out correctly, they’ll be able to do some really cool things at the major-league level too.”

At Kings of Kauffman, Ryan Sikes tabs Brandon Marklund as the Royals’ future closer:

The Royals took a flyer on him in January and was assigned to Single-A Lexington. Now 23, Marklund was phenomenal this year for the Legends. He made 24 appearances and tossed 39.1 innings while striking out 44 batters, walking 19, and allowing opponents to bat just 0.162 off him. He was 6-for-7 in save opportunities and continued to impressed during the Legends’ League Championship run.

Sikes also highlighted three takeaways from Wilmington’s championship run.

If you become a Patreon subscriber to Royals Academy, you can check out this interview Clint Scoles did with the outstanding reliever Tyler Zuber. Non-subscribers can now listen to this interview with outfielder Nick Heath.

Elsewhere in baseball:

When last we thought about Felipe Vázquez of the Pirates, it was because a fight with him caused a season-ending injury to teammate Kyle Crick. Vázquez is in the news again for much worse reasons, this time following an arrest for solicitation of a child and providing obscene material to minors.

Mike Stanton might could rejoin the 98-53 Yankees today or tomorrow.

The Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo is using a scooter to take weight off his injured ankle, and he decked the scooter out with a flowery basket and some tassels.

And in other sports:

Sam Mellinger digs into what it would take for the Chiefs to land cornerback Jalen Ramsey, after they missed out on Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Is Eli Manning finished?

Sarah Thomas swam across the English Channel four times, non-stop. No one has ever done that before!

Out in the big, wide world:

ProPublica found that some medical imaging companies weren’t storing X-rays and MRIs securely, so they are available for viewing by anyone nosy enough.

A Variety profile of Norman Lear contains the upsetting nugget that some monsters want to remake ‘The Princess Bride.’ NO, no no no, no.

Pour one out for the 44,000 pounds of Nutella that were lost in a semi crash in Indiana.

At Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall writes about The Good Place ahead of its 4th (and final) season. (Piece contains spoilers for all three existing seasons - go catch up on Netflix before reading!)

A personal confession:
One of the main reasons I chose Wednesday as my day to cover Rumblings is because of the Pronunciation Manual video for Wednesday. This is how I have pronounced this day of the week for years now, and I want each of you to join me in this silliness. Thank you.

A song today:
Ramin Karimloo’s ‘Traveller’s Eyes.’