Royals Rumblings - News for June 21, 2021

Royals Rumblings - News for June 20, 2021

Jarrod Dyson talks about his great battle that led to a double on Sunday.

“The approach was not to hit it back to the pitcher like I did my previous at-bat,” Dyson quipped. “I was just trying to get me a fastball I could handle. They were feeding me a lot of fastballs away, and I just wanted to stay with that approach.

“I actually was trying to hit something through the six-hole (the traditional shortstop position) because they left the gap wide-open for me, and I hit a line drive right over the shortstop. I’ll take it. That at-bat, I wasn’t coming off the fastball no matter what he was throwing, and I just put some good wood on it.”

Mike Matheny explains why Adalberto Mondesi left Sunday’s game early.

“He felt a little something,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said after the game. “We’re still getting some more information on it, so we had to get him out of the game at that point. We’re going to continue to watch it and see what the trainers say.”

Danny Duffy gives an update on his injury to Lynn Worthy.

“It’s gone. Everything’s gone,” Duffy said. “It’s one of those things, modern medicine is a miracle. We’ve got the right people who get their hands on us in the training room. So it was pretty expeditious, to be honest with you. It was obviously a scare. On the MRI, they said my ligament is completely intact, so we’re good. I’m not nervous about it at all. I’m ready to go. No holds barred.”

Duffy said he wasn’t sure what the next step would be, but he assumed it could come in a game setting. Though he reiterated that he hadn’t been told of any plans as of the time the Royals were taking batting practice on Friday.

“I’m ready to pitch, ready to throw baseballs competitively,” he said with a chuckle.

Worthy also talks to Royals players about the new protocols to crack down on foreign substances.

“I don’t know how much plays into the substance part, but I think teams are rewarding guys, and the media in that aspect (is too),” Merrifield said. “There’s a whole Twitter account based solely on nasty pitches, the Pitching Ninja or whatever.

“All he wants to show is nasty pitches, so guys are just trying to rip sliders as hard as they can, throw fastballs as hard as they can and hope that their stuff is elite enough to where they can get away with mistakes and not worry so much about commanding balls. That’s a dangerous place to be as a hitter.”

Brad Keller was cruising on Saturday, until he wasn’t.

“A leadoff walk and then a backup slider hit for a triple,” Keller said of the fifth inning. “I felt like I settled down, made a pitch right there. A squibber up the line scored a run. I didn’t think there was a play at the plate, so I just got an out. Then I got into another battle count and walked a guy. Probably just a dumb pitch selection to J.D. Martinez cost me two more runs.”

Matheny explains to Anne Rogers why Jackson Kowar was moved to the bullpen.

“Coming in a relief role, you have the opportunity to have your spikes on the mound in the Major Leagues and realize that by today’s rules, your obligation is three hitters,” manager Mike Matheny said. “And think, ‘I’m going to trust the team to do with me what’s best for the team’ without the extra expectation.”

The Royals added veteran reliever Anthony Swarzak to the roster and moved Ronald Bolaños to the 60-day Injured List with a flexor strain over the weekend.

Craig Brown at Into the Fountains looks at the hole in Michael Taylor’s swing.

Taylor is getting fastballs elevated in the zone 14 percent of all pitches he’s seen in 2021. That’s a healthy rate compared to the rest of the league. Show a weakness and opposing pitchers will attack. They’re so ruthless! Honestly, the fact that Taylor swings and misses at high heat (and also has a difficult time laying off the sliders down and away) isn’t all that different a profile from just about any other major league hitter. There’s a reason pitchers are dominating this season. The issue with Taylor is the frequency with which he’s swinging and missing.

David Lesky at Inside the Crown writes how patient new ownership will be with Dayaton Moore.

Whether you love, hate or are indifferent to the Chiefs, their success should be something that pushes the Royals. I can’t imagine Sherman wants to lose the majority of his fanbase every year in late August because they aren’t relevant and the Chiefs are one of the best teams in the NFL. I think the odds are that nothing happens with this front office this season. Barring a monumental blow-up, I’d put those odds at less than one percent. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t on thinner ice than they were before. It’s just as simple as not having real ties to this group as David Glass did.

I don’t think this ownership group will want to be second fiddle for long, and we’ve seen that both teams can be good and have attention.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter tries to figure out what the Royals are doing with Edward Olivares.

Royals minor leaguers at Quad Cities combined for a no-hitter.

An Andy Reid lookalike fooled many at the Royals game.

The Royals signed Jordan Hovey, a former Missouri State infielder playing in an independent league

The Blue Jays trade for former Royals pitcher Jacob Barnes.

The Rays call up top prospect Wander Franco.

Shohei Ohtani will participate in this year’s Home Run Derby.

Joey Votto is tossed from a game, then apologizes to a young fan who came out to see him.

Dan Szymborski writes the Padres need an upgrade at first base.

What’s wrong with the Braves, and can they fix it?

Is it counterproductive to vilify pitchers that used sticky stuff?

A history of foreign substances in baseball.

Why Jose Altuve should not be the face of the Astros sign-stealing scandal.

A look at the field of eight teams in the College World Series.

A college baseball player dies after complications from Tommy John surgery.

Sports reporter Kat O’Brien speaks up about being raped by a player and harassment in baseball.

NCAA conference commissioners are pushing a minimalist plan to regulate name, image, and likeness rules.

A Ugandan Olympian has tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Japan.

Some of the colors we see on creatures such as blue jays and poison-dart frogs aren’t created by pigments at all.

Can insects become a part of our diet?

Every Pixar movie, ranked.

Your song of the day is Oasis with Live Forever.