Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for August 19, 2021

Relax, Bobby Witt, Jr. just had a day off yesterday.

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Aug 19, 2021, 8:00am EDT

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Royals Rumblings - News for August 19, 2021

Anne Rogers writes about Daniel Lynch’s successful start on Tuesday.

Now, the changeup is a weapon, too.

“They harped on it so much coming up how important that pitch is going to be,” Lynch said. “And I’m definitely starting to realize it. You’re not going to have some pitches every night, so that was something I felt was ... just enough to keep them off the fastball until I could get my slider and curveball going a little bit.”

In his Mellinger Minutes. Sam predicts where Bobby Witt, Jr. will make his debut.

I would expect Witt Jr. to make his debut playing shortstop....

The short version is this: if the Royals’ future includes Witt Jr. and Mondesi healthy at the same time, that’s one of them good problems, because they’re both terrific athletes who can play other positions.

The Royals would LOVE to someday be deciding between Witt Jr. and Mondesi as their big-league shortstop. If they get to that point, they cannot screw up the decision.

Jordan Foote at Inside the Royals considers whether Ryan O’Hearn is worth keeping.

Even with his immense struggles to start the season, O’Hearn’s slugging percentage ranks second on the team behind only Salvador Perez. The Carlos Santana experiment hasn’t quite worked out how the team had hoped, and there simply aren’t many power bats on the roster. O’Hearn is flawed — very much so — but he has flashed a plus trait considering the talent surrounding him.

Matt Eddy at Baseball America reflects on prospects they completely missed on.

David Cone, RHP, Royals

At the end of spring training in 1987, the Royals made one of the most lopsided trades of the decade by sending Cone to the Mets for young catcher Ed Hearn and two prospects who never panned out. Kansas City had shifted Cone to the bullpen at Triple-A Omaha in 1986 after his ERA started with a “5” the preceding two seasons. He would go on to win 194 games in the big leagues and win five World Series rings with the Blue Jays and Yankees.

Prospects Live has their mid-season Top 30 Royals prospect list.

Brennan Mense at Overtime Heroics thinks Carlos Hernandez is the Royals pitching prospects to be focusing on.

Royals minor league pitcher Anthony Veneziano talks to Royals Farm Report.

A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt has normal vision after suffering facial fractures on a line drive back to the mound.

How the Yankees flipped the script on the Red Sox in the East.

Shohei Ohtani hits his 40th home run of the year.

Freddie Freeman becomes the first Braves hitter to hit for the cycle twice.

MLB owners reportedly offer players a salary floor in exchange for lowering the luxury tax threshold.

There have been more no-hitters than 13-inning games, and pitchouts have become a rare event.

ESPN writers discuss what they would change about baseball.

Broadcaster Jack Morris gets in trouble for using an Asian accent during a Shohei Ohtani at-bat.

Mets owner Steve Cohen criticizes his team’s lack of hitting on Twitter.