Royals Rumblings

Royals Rumblings - News for September 28, 2021

Can Salvy break the club home run record this week?

By Max Rieper@maxrieper Sep 28, 2021, 8:00am EDT

Kansas City Royals v Cleveland Indians - Game 1

Royals Rumblings - News for September 28, 2021

Salvador Perez enters the final week of the season two home runs shy of the single-season club record, writes Lynn Worthy.

“It’s hard not to think about that,” he said. “Everybody knows there’s only six games left, but I don’t try to take that with me. I’m just trying to have fun, play the last six games and see what happens.”

Salvy says the fan that caught his record-setting home run ball wanted $10,000.

“He was talking to Davenport and one guy behind him (who said) like, ‘Hey, don’t give me (Perez) the ball because that’s gonna cost at least $10,000. Salvy, he just signed a contract, he can pay you the money. Just hook the guy up or something.’ That was crazy.”

Perez does wish he could have received the ball.

“This year is a dream year for me. .... I was working hard my last offseason I tried to do the best,” Perez said. “But I never hit 30 home runs and I never broke 100 RBIs, so that was one of my goals. To now have 46 and 116 (RBIs), it’s amazing.

Jackson Kowar struggled again in his latest start, writes Anne Rogers.

“I’m getting a little tired of having to come here and say that, and take us out of games,” Kowar said. “There’s only so many times where I grinded or battled. Today, that’s not a battle day. That’s a day where your offense is clicking early and you got to go out there and win your team a game. It’s not a game where you’re battling through and eating innings.

“I got to go out there and do my job. I did not do that today.”

David Lesky at Inside the Crown looks at Kyle Isbel’s strong finish.

Even though he went 0 for 4 yesterday, Isbel is hitting .290/.353/.581 with a walk rate of 8.8 percent and, maybe more importantly, a strikeout rate of 14.7 percent. He’s played really solid defense in center field, so it looks like his minor league adjustments have really paid off. I like that he hasn’t been trying to pull everything and that’s been a big benefit for him. He’s taking advantage of an opportunity that’s been presented to him and I do wonder if what he’s done in an admittedly small sample will make the Royals feel more comfortable with him as part of at least a rotation in center field next year.

Inside the Royals has a roundtable on which prospect they like the most.

Tyler Dierking: Northwest Arkansas is loaded with potential big leaguers. While I could pick Jonathan Bowlan as the guy to watch, I’m going to be looking at another player next year more (considering I already follow Bowlan pretty close). The most intriguing player looking forward that fans should be watching just might be first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino. He finished the year hitting .300/.394/.563 between Quad City and Northwest Arkansas over 116 games, but hit .310/.405/.560 over 55 games in Double-A. His 13.1% BB% and 11.0% K% are both fantastic.

Had Pasquantino met the qualified playing time limits, his .965 OPS would have saw him finish second in all of Double-A behind fellow Royals prospect MJ Melendez. His .405 OBP would have had him ranked third.

Brad Zimmer homered off of brother Kyle Zimmer on Monday.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter ranks young Royals starters for 2022.

The White Sox and Tigers have a bench-clearing incident.

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt has a fracture in his left thumb.

The Rays are progressing on their plan to play some games in Montreal.

Shohei Ohtani talks about his future with the Angels.

Which managers are on the hot seat?

A hot winning streak to end the year does not ensure success in October for the Cardinals.

The Arizona Fall League will feature some experimental new rules.

Why the Mets are rooting for the Royals to win.

The Chiefs sign oft-injured and oft-suspended receiver Josh Gordon.

Is Brentford for real?