Royals Rumblings - News for January 9, 2021

After the week we’ve had, it sucks that this is where we’ve gotta start. But the (baseball) world lost one of the longest running faces of baseball on Thursday in Tommy Lasorda. Lasorda was 93 years old and I’d highly suggest going through every article you can to get some of the many stories that Lasorda was a part of; there won’t be a better time for it and some of those stories are absolutely awesome. If nothing else, those stories can serve as a respite from the chaos and maybe even give a reminder of what is important. We only have so much time here and most of us won’t get 93 years like Tommy, but we can damn sure spread some positivity like Tommy did.

RIP Tommy Lasagna

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On to the Rumblings

Alec Lewis summarized a Friday afternoon press conferences with 10 takeaways over at The Athletic.

5. Ervin Santana made sense to the Royals for a few reasons

... Why would the Royals sign an older starter when they have so many pitching prospects? That’s another reason why the deal made sense. With the number of innings many prospects will have to rack up, it might not make so much sense to start them in the big leagues on Opening Day or in the first couple of months.

He also followed up his ranking of the pitching prospects in the Royals’ system with his ranking of hitting prospects.

Khalil Lee, OF: More than anything else, the knock on Lee has been how often he hits the ball on the ground: In 2019, he led the Double-A Texas League in percentage of balls hit on the ground (59.3 percent). Making adjustments to his swing has been a focus in the last year and a half, but some injuries have gotten in the way. He has struggled this winter in Puerto Rico, too, posting a .622 OPS in 51 plate appearances. Still, Lee is only 22 years old, so he has time to continue to shore up issues that could prevent him from playing daily.

Jim Bowden wrote about each team’s most underrated prospects.

Alec Marsh, RHP

Age: 22 B: R T: R HT: 6-2 WT: 220

Scouting grades: FB: 55 SLI: 55 CB: 55 CH: 45 CTL: 45 CMND: 40

The Royals drafted Marsh in the supplemental second round (70th overall) in June 2019. Marsh has a fastball comfort zone of 92-94 mph but can touch 96-97 mph when he wants to. He can sink it, cut it and rise it. He also has two above-average breaking balls that he can throw at any count. His changeup is a work in progress, but when he figures out that pitch and his command finally arrives, he’ll be ready to join the Royals’ rotation as a third- or fourth-type starter.

This has probably been shared in these parts at some point already, but MLB.com made a video of the best Royals catches of 2020 and, at the risk of sounding like the guy who thinks the routine things major leaguers do are easy for everyone to do, this reel is so hilariously blah. I knew we were being spoiled in the ‘14-’16 runs by LoCain and Dyson and Gordo, but holy schnikes this was next level. See for yourself.

Ben Badler released his rankings for the 2020-21 International Prospects Class at Baseball America.

Oh?

Fantasy Football Player Curse Adrenaline Rush of the Week

Fantasy football is over, unless you’re doing an NFL playoff league (which I am). So in its place, I’m going to have an activity that will act as the adrenaline rush replacement to fill the void (yes watching playoff football will also work).

This week I’m going with the ridiculous new game mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War called “Prop hunter”. Basically it’s a game of hide and seek, where one team is disguised as common props you’d find on the map trying to blend in with the surroundings while the other team tries to sniff them out. Here’s some gameplay to get a taste:

It’s as ridiculous as it sounds but the adrenaline rush you get when you’re a orange road cone that’s been discovered and you’re desperately trying to find a way to blend in is very real.

Song of the Day

“1000 Times” by Sara Bareilles

Boy, do I love me some Sara Bareilles. This isn’t the usual upbeat and positive song that I normally pick for this (great timing, dumbass). It’s just a damn good song. It resonates with the inner 13 year old me that was consistently getting friend-zoned growing up. Every time I hear it, that part of me is tearing up in his bed eating ice cream wondering why the nice guy always finishes last whilst denying the fact that it is directly correlated to the ice cream it’s inhaling. I have so much that I want to tell younger me, but alas, I cannot. So I’ll just listen to “1000 Times” as a reminder of how good things are now. My teenage angst totem, if you will. Makes me wonder if you all have a “teenage angst totem” song. Sound off and have a great weekend!