Royals Rumblings - News for April 26, 2021

Royals Rumblings - News for April 26, 2021

Danny Duffy continues to dominate, with the second-lowest ERA in club history after four starts, according to Lynn Worthy.

“Really locking in, staying calm, not letting any situation get the best of you,” Duffy said. “I think when you remember that it’s the same game you’ve been playing for however many years, and we’ve gotten out of situations before and we can do it again — that’s kind of the mentality that I feel right now. It’s just a major amount of calm. It has been nice to wrangle it back in when it gets away from you.”

He also writes about Ryan O’Hearn homering in his first game back.

“It felt really good to help and to get the win,” O’Hearn said. “Those first two pitches of my first at-bat, I was just going crazy. I had to take a minute to relax, see the ball. Once I did that and took the third pitch, I think it was a splitter down, I caught my breath, relaxed and got back into my plan.”

Lynn writes about Mike Matheny’s bullpen usage, and his flexibility with roles.

“At this point, I don’t think we need a role,” Staumont said last week. “We’re a unit down there. We’ve been through everything together, so it’s kind of just like we’re working to finish these games. These starters do so much in the beginning that we’re just looking at it as a collective. If there’s three innings, four innings, five innings that we need to cover, our job is to do that the best we can.”

Anne Rogers writes about Brady Singer’s dominant performance on Saturday.

On Saturday, it was all about Singer’s fastball. Of his 93 pitches, 66 were sinkers and 29 were sliders. Singer didn’t have to throw a changeup because of how well his slider played off the fastball on both sides of the plate, and the Tigers seemed baffled by how much Singer’s fastball moved on them, especially on lefties.

“That was as good as I’ve seen him,” Matheny said. “He’s got unique makeup, but to go with it, he’s got the ability to spot pitches with good movement. And it’s different, it’s late movement. You can see how the hitters react differently.”

Josh Staumont talks about his first career MLB save on Saturday.

“Every milestone you hit is going to have some special memory,” Staumont said after the game. “There’s little things, like being able to throw to Cam, guys I’ve come up with, grinded with, good and bad. To have a good outcome with somebody I’ve been around for years is really cool. And to seal a win? That’s two birds with one stone, so that’s pretty cool.”

Sam Dykstra at milb.com talks to J.J. Picollo about Bobby Witt, Jr.

“The other thing is when you talk about preparing a player for the Major Leagues, taking that first step at Double-A would be a huge step for him,” Picollo said. “A Rookie-ball player going to Double-A doesn’t happen all that much. And for him to build some confidence in the foundations he’s building, you can make the argument that Double-A is the better place for him to do that. He should handle that competition a little bit better.”

One thing that’s much more certain is Witt’s defensive home. While he did get plenty of looks at second to increase his versatility, the infielder is much more likely to stick at shortstop at the top level or move over to third if the roster requires it because of his size and plus arm. No matter where he opens 2021, those two positions will be his areas of focus.

Picollo also talks to Alec Lewis of The Athletic.

This is along similar lines, but what’s the plan for left-handed pitching prospect Daniel Lynch and right-hander Jackson Kowar?

I’m almost certain they’ll be in Triple-A. I don’t know what would change that. We’ve felt really good about what they did at the alternate site last year. They were prepared. They improved pitches. They’ve continued on their path. So we feel good about them being in Triple-A. We’ll have a final discussion, but that’s where they belong. At 60 feet, 6 inches, when they make pitches with the stuff they have, it doesn’t matter who is hitting.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter thinks Danny Duffy is making his case to stay in KC beyond this year.

Adrian Garrett, who served as a Royals coach from 1988 to 1992, dies at the age of 78.

Tod Palmer at KSHB profiles Kansas City native and former Kansas City Athletics player Chuck Dobson.

Fernando Tatis, Jr. trolls Trevor Bauer after a home run, but Bauer has no issue with it.

Madison Bumgarner throws a seven-inning no-hitter, but it won’t count as one.

The Oakland Athletics want a city council vote on a potential new stadium.

The story of how the Rays found a solar panel salesman on Twitter and now he’s making his MLB debut at age 31.

Corbin Burnes made a tweak to his arsenal and is now making history.

How are the players that opted out of the 2020 season doing this year?

Baseball still has a long way to go when it comes to equitable gender hiring.

Who should be the new president of the Baseball Hall of Fame?

How discipline in free agency allowed the Chiefs to trade for Orlando Brown.

The Super League is done, but lingering problems in soccer threaten the game.

How will the movie theater experience change once the pandemic is over?

Here is the list of last night’s Oscar winners.

There was a national fight among guys named Josh, won by a very small Josh.

Your song of the day is The Beach Boys with I Get Around.