Gamethread II: Kansas City at Cleveland

I wasn’t sure I was going to get to write any of these this year, but not only am I finally writing a gamethread but it’s Brady Singer’s major league debut, too! Yes, Royals fans, the first of hopefully many happy starts by the pitchers drafted in the 2018 class is upon us! For those of you curious about the corresponding roster move:

If you don’t remember Bolaños, he was acquired along with Franchy Cordero from the Padres for lefty Tim Hill.

FanGraphs rates the big right-hander’s slider as his best pitch, closely followed by a fastball and then a changeup which they expect to improve. More important than Singer’s stuff, however, might be his control, which is rated very highly by FanGraphs. His walk rate of 2.58 BB/9 placed him thirty-fifth among all AA pitchers to throw 90 or more innings, last season.

There are high hopes for what Brady Singer can accomplish for this club and those hopes start being realized today.

Lineups

Oh yeah, I guess some other guys are playing too, huh? I’m still not sure about Whit Merrifield in CF while we watch true centerfielders Cordero, Bubba Starling, and Brett Phillips roam rightfield. But maybe this is Matheny’s version of Esky Magic?

Mike Clevinger takes the mound for the home team, today. He’s 9-0 with an ERA of 1.93 against the Royals in 13 games, including 12 starts. So Brady’s gonna probably have to do something incredible if the Royals want to walk away with a win in today’s contest.