Game CXLVI: Royals v. Athletics

The Royals future is far brighter this season than it even was last season. The domination of Bobby Witt Jr, the resurgences of Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez, as well as a system chalked full of arms led to Kansas City’s farm system being ranked among many publication’s top-10 farm systems.

Despite the bats that have lept forward this season, so much of that future depends on arms such as Brady Singer, Kris Bubic, Daniel Lynch, and Jackson Kowar. And so far this year, it has been a rough go of it for those four.

Those four pitchers have ERAs of 4.85, 4.99, 5.37, and 11.50 respectively. Singer is having the best season, and before his dreadful last outing, he was having a legitimately solid, albeit unlucky, season. His ERA sat at 4.58, which isn’t fantastic, but his 3.68 FIP, low HR/FB rate, and high strikeout percentage suggested he was performing better than the numbers suggested. And that’s still true, but certainly took a hit after his last start.

For the others, there have been flashes of good pitching, but far more setbacks. Lynch’s struggles have been the focus of many Royals fans, as he represents the arm with maybe the most upside, aside from Asa Lacy who isn’t yet in the majors.

Lynch has had his moments, most notably the brilliant 8.0 shutout innings he pitched against Detroit back on July 25, but he has also been blown up on several occasions. Most recently, he was tagged for six runs in just 2.2 innings against the White Sox back on September 4, the second time this season the White Sox have gotten to him this season.

He’ll be back on the mound against an Athletics team that is hanging on for dear life in the Wild Card standings, sitting 3.5 games back of the 2nd spot.

The Royals will attempt to split a series that has already been a pretty wild ride. Here are your lineups for some afternoon baseball.