Royals Rumblings - News for September 19, 2019

Royals Rumblings - News for September 19, 2019

The starting pitching has been pretty solid lately.

“Lopie threw a heck of a game yesterday and I just kind of wanted to follow him,” Duffy said. “It was really impressive to watch that last night, and I had some confidence in my fastball today as a result of watching him do what he did. Everything seemed to work out.”

The Royals will shut down Jakob Junis for the year, writes Lynn Worthy.

“Where he’s at in the year, I think it’s just best to go ahead and let him call it a year and continued to stay focused on things that he needs to do to get better, take his game to the next level,” Yost said.

Andy McCullough at The Athletic looks back on Alex Gordon’s legacy in Kansas City.

Inside the organization, affection for Gordon runs deep. He was drafted in 2005, a year before Moore took over the baseball operations department. Moore considers Gordon “the most well-rounded, most special player I’ve been around.” His career doubles as a manual for how the Royals raise their players. His story arises again and again in the developmental system, in the tales the team’s executives and instructors tell their prospects. He is the exemplar held up by Moore and his lieutenants as they pilot another lengthy rebuild.

“Ever since I got drafted, I’ve heard stories about him,” third baseman Hunter Dozier said. “And he’s a guy who, ever since I got drafted, I’ve looked up to.”...

One day a few years ago, Kuntz asked video coordinator Mark Topping to film Gordon’s pregame shagging routine. Topping edited footage of Gordon “running all over the place after balls,” Kuntz said. The organization distributes that video to its minor-league outfielders as a guide.

“He models everything that you want to see in a player,” Moore said. “He models commitment. He models loyalty. He models work ethic.”

Chris Haft at MLB.com writes about Ian Kennedy’s successful transition to closer.

“This is a cool opportunity I’ve been given,” Kennedy said Tuesday, one day after becoming the fourth pitcher in Major League history to compile seasons featuring 20 victories and 30 saves. The others are John Smoltz, Derek Lowe and Dennis Eckersley.

“He’s had a big year,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Thirty is a big number. Elite closers have 30.”

Alec Lewis takes a look at Royals pitching prospects and the season they enjoyed.

Bobby Witt, Jr. is among the names the Royals announced will play in the Instructional League.

Three Royals make MLB Pipeline’s final top 100 prospect list.

Former Royals manager Whitey Herzog suffers a stroke.

Clint Scoles at Royals Academy talks to pitching prospect Tyler Zuber.

Ryan Sikes at Kings of Kauffman highlights Rito Lugo’s rapid ascent through the farm system.

Lee Judge writes that the Royals are worth watching, even if they are a 100-loss team.

Cavan Biggio joins his dad Craig as the first father-son duo to both hit for the cycle.

Giancarlo Stanton is back.

The Red Sox have an incentive to keep Rusney Castillo in the minors because of his large contract.

The Marlins sign shortstop Miguel Rojas to a two-year deal.

The Venezuelan baseball league delays the start of the season.

Fenway Park will be the home of the newest college football bowl game.

Derek Dietrich had a bizarre season.

Is the NFL running out of quarterbacks?

A profile of the CEO of WeWork reveals he wants to be president of the world and live forever.

Facebook unveils an oversight board to handle controversial posts.

The broadcast fall TV lineup reveals its existential crisis.

Your song of the day is Talking Heads with Road to Nowhere.