Royals Rumblings

Weekend Rumblings - News for March 28, 2020

What Royals game do you want to re-watch?

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Mar 28, 2020, 10:00am EDT

Remote control and couch potato, lazy man in comfy chair wearing worn slippers with big toes sticking through and watching television in living room.

Weekend Rumblings - News for March 28, 2020

Sam Mellinger has his list of top 56 games to watch you can watch right now, and no surprise what is at #1.

1. Sept. 30, 2014: AL Wild Card Game, Royals beat A’s 9-8 (12 innings). These rankings are inherently subjective, but you’ll never convince me I’m wrong about this. There was no trophy on the line, but in the moment I swear it felt even bigger than a championship.

The Royals, of course, came back from 7-3 down in the eighth inning. They fell behind again in the 12th, winning when Salvador Perez hit a slider approximately 73 feet outside the strike zone. By that point, coaches had spent months begging Perez to stop swinging at that pitch. One joked afterward that if Perez never had another hit it was worth it.

Also, watching the game is great — Christian Colon’s chopper 30 feet into the air is an underrated moment — but Andy McCullough’s literary documentary is better.

Whit Merrifield tells Lynn Worthy about his disappointment not being able to have an Opening Day this week.

“It’s kind of a pretty big letdown when you think about, ‘Aww man we could be playing today,’” Merrifield told The Star by phone Thursday. “So, that sucks, but at the same time it’s hard for me to believe it’s only March 26. It feels like the middle of May. It just feels like I’ve been at home forever.”

Clint Scoles at Royals Academy reacts to Eric Skoglund being designated for assignment.

Drafted in the 3rd round out of Central Florida the lefty worked his way through the minor ranks fairly quickly but I wasn’t quite as high on him as Baseball America and some other sites never ranking him higher than 12th. That ranking being that low surprised me some as I typically factor in the Royals view of a player fairly high and they have always been high on him. The entire saga of last year is remarkably similar to that of Jorge Bonifacio’s with a quick rise, struggles the next season and a positive steroid test.

Alyson Footer and Jeffrey Flanagan at MLB.com looks at the next crop of future All-Stars in the Central Division, like Adalberto Mondesi

Royals fans have seen glimpses of that great potential the last two seasons. In just 75 games in 2018, Mondesi hit 14 home runs, posted an .804 OPS and stole 32 bases, fourth-most in the AL. Mondesi’s 2019 season was cut short with a left shoulder injury that required surgery. Yet Mondesi, in just 102 games, tied for the MLB lead with 10 triples and he was second in the AL with 43 stolen bases.

“He has the entire skill set,” one rival AL scout said. “You’re going to see him become an elite defender with great range and an above-average arm, an elite basestealer and baserunner, and a hitter with pop from both sides of the plate. He is going to be special.”

Cody Tapp at 610 Sports talks to Assistant GM JJ Picollo.

Vahe Gregorian writes about the sports photos on his phone.

Shawn Bauman at Kings of Kauffman writes about prospect Brewer Hicklen.

Former Astros slugger Jimmy Wynn dies at age 78.

MLB Pipeline compares their prospect list to other industry lists.

When baseball comes back, how much time will pitchers need?

Will MLB turn to expansion to make up for lost revenues?

Seven inning doubleheaders could be on the table to get games in.

The Indian pitcher that inspired the film Million Dollar Arm is now a pro wrestler.

MLB jerseys are being used to make gowns and masks for health professionals.

ESPN writers talk about the best defensive play they ever saw.

Three Japanese baseball players test positive for coronavirus.