Royals Rumblings - News for March 25, 2020

Alec Lewis at The Athletic spoke with J.J. Picollo about Royals minor league performances this spring:

With the work catching prospect MJ Melendez put in during the offseason, what did you think about the way that work translated?

We’re really proud of the work he put in in the offseason, and he maintained through the four or five weeks. He maintained it, and we saw some really good swings in the game. Like Khalil, MJ came up a couple of times with the game on the line, and we didn’t see him get bigger or try to do more. He stayed within himself and put good swings on the ball. The adjustments he’s made in his timing and direction have been really good, and we know he’ll stay on that because he’s now seeing the results being better.

Defensively, I had a couple of games where I was down in the dugout and able to watch him there. He was unbelievable receiving and blocking. He’s always been good, but I thought he took it to another level this spring. It was a really good spring for him.

At the end of the Q&A, Picollo also notes the Royals are paying the minor league players through April 8, and have closed facilities in Arizona but left the fields open to the players who are still there.

Noah Syndergaard is having Tommy John surgery tomorrow.

What will happen to the MLB draft this summer?

A Red Sox minor leaguer is the latest to test positive for coronavirus.

Will collegiate summer leagues get to have a season? The best-known one is the Cape Cod league, but I worked for one summer in the Southern California Collegiate Baseball League based in Palm Springs, California. With the exception of the two radio broadcasters, all the interns rotated through all the jobs, so I got to be everything from ticket-taker to mascot to on-field emcee.

Joe Buck is narrating everyday moments of sports fans who are staying home, if they promise to make a donation that will help people affected by Coronavirus. This one took a turn at the end, and there are many more on his Twitter timeline:

Joe Posnanski wrote about Eddie Murray in his new “Favorite Player” series:

It amazes me — and warms my heart — how many people say their favorite baseball player was Eddie Murray. It amazes me because, throughout his career, Murray was generally portrayed in the media as surly, aloof, a walking scowl. He had a cold war with the media that lasted pretty much his entire career, and many wrote and talked as much about his glare as they did his breathtaking consistency.

“He has the glare of Samuel L. Jackson in ‘Pulp Fiction,’” Jim Palmer once said of him.

It warms my heart because so many people loved Steady Eddie just the same.

He deserved that love. He was a wonderful player and a cherished teammate. He was also a big-hearted man who quietly — very quietly — devoted himself to helping people, particularly kids. He went to great extremes to prevent anyone from hearing about the charities he supported, the sweetness he showed when only those kids were around. He built a cantankerous wall around himself. He just didn’t trust the storytellers to get him right.

NFL general managers want to move the draft, but the league doesn’t.

Keith LaMar is a man in Ohio who knows a thing or two about isolation - he has been in solitary confinement for 27 years. He offered up some tips for people new to isolation.

Tricky advice column scenario of the week: is this person’s coworker lying about having a sick child? Would you say anything to your/their manager in this situation?

India is under a nationwide stay-at-home order for the next 21 days.

Music: Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly