Royals Rumblings - News for September 20, 2019

Royals Rumblings - News for September 20, 2019

Lynn Worthy talks with Heath Fillmyer about pitching with pain.

Well, that ailment actually has plagued Fillmyer dating back to the start of spring training. He and the Royals training and coaching staffs decided he could work through it.

“I wanted to play baseball,” Fillmyer said. “Everybody wants to play, in that urge you’re going to do everything you can to play and put yourself in the best circumstance to play. It’s just unfortunate that it got to the point where it couldn’t really work anymore.”

Mike Montgomery discusses his ejection.

Great piece from Sam McDowell on Danny Duffy opening up about bullying, depression, and anxiety.

A group of veterans on the team’s pitching staff had been treating his locker as a garbage can, wrapping food in aluminum foil and stuffing it into his bag. With daily stunts stretching beyond typical rookie hazing, the group of five targeted Duffy, a fast-rising pitching prospect on the verge of taking their jobs. They told him to shut up when he spoke. They called him stuck-up when he ignored them.

Duffy had grown to dread coming to the ballpark, anxious for what might await him.

“I went in with the mindset that I was going to make some new friends,” he says. “And I left with the mindset that I didn’t have any.”

For years, Duffy had suffered from anxiety. He never felt like he quite fit in....

Alec Lewis reviews the year that was for Royals’ minor league hitters, such as Nick Pratto.

Why did the first-round pick (in 2017) struggle to that extent? The answer is many-fold, but there are two biggies. First of all, High-A is no longer mostly raw young arms; it’s filled with many experienced pitchers (the Royals’ staff at Wilmington would be exhibit A). There is also more data on hitters and pitchers in the league than ever, so when a hitter (or pitcher) has a weakness or two, which was the case with Pratto, it’ll surely be exploited. Each, of course, excuses a lack of performance that must improve moving forward. Pratto won’t take this offseason lightly — and the Royals can’t either. After all, Pratto was considered one of their top hitting prospects coming into the season.

MLB Pipeline names Khalil Lee and Kris Bubic as the Royals Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year, writes Jeffrey Flanagan.

J.J. Picollo, the Royals assistant general manager of player personnel, isn’t surprised about Bubic’s rapid development.

“He was taken basically in the second round and we knew he had the ability to perform well early,” Picollo told MLB.com. “He is a guy who has a lot of deception on the mound. He’s not a guy who will come in and blow you away with 95-100 mph stuff.

“But Kris is a really smart pitcher who has a fastball in the 92-95 range with a really good changeup and a really good curveball now. And he knows how to pitch. He has good command.”

MLB Pipeline also has the sleeper prospect from each team in the Arizona Fall League.

Daniel Tillo, LHP (Royals No. 30)

The big, strong and athletic left-hander (He was a basketball standout in high school) is still struggling to find consistency in terms of command, but the 2017 third-rounder’s stuff played plenty well enough as he reached Double-A in 2019. He finished the year coming out of the bullpen, a role he’ll continue in the AFL, where his stuff all ticked upwards.

At Royals Academy, Clint Scoles highlights the top pitching peformances in the Royals’ farm system this year.

Ryan Sikes at Kings of Kauffman talks to Royals prospect Austin Cox.

Darin Watson looks back at Royals history from this week in 1969.

Sean Thornton and I talk about new Royals ownership and the comedy classic Dumb and Dumber.

Ronald Acuna, Jr. becomes the third 21-year old to hit 40 home runs in a season.

Yankees pitcher Domingo German goes on leave as MLB investigates an incident domestic violence.

The DEA is investigating the death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Mookie Betts’ future looms large in Boston.

When teams outperform their projections on a player-by-player basis.

To get an analytics job with the Phillies, you have to answer this question.

A look at alternate playoff realities.

Six wild stats that define this MLB season.

Why blockbuster trades are suddenly a thing in the NFL.

Justify failed a drug test just one month before the 2018 Kentucky Derby, and won the Triple Crown.

Where does all the plastic go?

Scientists discover a bizarre unknown creature 3,500 meters below the surface in Antarctica.

The Navy admits that the UFO videos from Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge are real.

Your song of the day is The Darkness with Friday Night.