Royals Rumblings - News for October 5, 2021

Royals Rumblings - News for October 5, 2021

Bobby Witt, Jr. was named Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year.

“You could probably ask any player in our organization—any coach or any clubhouse attendant, any trainer or strength and conditioning person—and they won’t even talk about these tools,” Royals scouting director Lonnie Goldberg said.

“They will talk about what an incredible human being he is. And he is. He is the ultimate team player first.

“When your best player could be your hardest worker and the greatest teammate, you have a chance to do enormous things as an organization. And that’s him to a T . . . He is as humble as you’re ever going to find. I can’t find enough accolades or boxes to check for Bobby Witt Jr. that are out there—he doesn’t leave anything unchecked.”

MJ Melendez wins the Joe Bauman Award for most home runs in the minors.

“It’s an honor to earn the Joe Bauman Award because I look at Minor League Baseball and the number of good hitters and it’s amazing to finish the season at the top of that list,” said Melendez. “There are so many guys that I watch and catch against throughout the season and the amount of talent in Minor League Baseball right now is incredible. It’s very humbling to be at the top of that list and I’m grateful for my teammates and coaches that pushed me throughout the season.”

Craig Brown at Into the Fountains reflects on the last game of the season.

Just because Perez doesn’t own titles or records or just because he didn’t finish with a tidy round number, his season is in no way diminished. Perez finished with a 126 OPS+ and a .544 slugging percentage, both career bests for a full season. Oh yeah, speaking of full seasons…the guy played in 161 games, the majority of which were as a backstop. Come on! This was, hands down, one of the most impressive power-hitting seasons in the recent history of the game.

David Lesky at Inside the Crown looks at how Jackson Kowar performed.

I know that Kowar is probably the pitcher I’m most interested in seeing in spring training with Brady Singer a close second to see what that third pitch looks like. But if Kowar’s fastball has a little movement or he’s working with two breaking balls or just something different, I’ll be very intrigued. But hey, the Royals threw numbers at this pitching for a reason, so if it doesn’t work, they’ll just move on to the next guy.

The Ringer looks at the best Wild Card games in baseball history, with a familiar game at #1.

The Royals have begun playing Instructional League games in Arizona with this roster.

The Mets fire manager Luis Rojas.

Longtime umpire Joe West will retire after the post-season.

The top 50 players in the post-season.

The Astros are the betting favorite to win the AL pennant.

Shohei Ohtani is open to a long-term deal with the Angels.

The Padres will part ways with analyst and former Fangraphs writer Dave Cameron.

An update on the player aging curve.

Mookie Betts leads all players in jersey sales in 2021.

Nine Cuban players on the U-23 team defect in Mexico.

Jaguars coach Urban Meyer apologizes for being a “distraction” after a viral video showed him at a bar with a woman that was not his wife.

The Washington Football Team has their facility raided by DEA agents and their trainer goes on leave.

Hollywood union IATSE votes to go on strike.

Why Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp all went down yesterday.

Jeff Bezos is sending William Shatner to space.

Your song of the day is The Killers with The Man.