Royals Rumblings - News for October 17, 2022

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter remains optimistic about Daniel Lynch.

On an xERA and xFIP end, Lynch saw 1.24-point and 0.92-point improvements in 2022, which are both significant gains. There wasn’t a huge difference in the point difference in the area of FIP (19 points), but his FIP was under five, and at 4.63, it was the second-best mark of those four categories of metrics as well.

Another nice trend from Lynch in 2022 was the increase in K/9 (8.34), K/BB ratio (2.35), and a decrease in BB/9 (3.55). Those improvements demonstrated that Lynch had much better control with his pitches in 2022 in comparison to his rookie year, which is a good sign going into 2023.

Shawn Bauman at Inside the Royals grades Bobby Witt Jr.’s season.

One number that shows the potential for more fireworks to come is Witt’s average exit velocity of 89.7. That is 1.5 mph better than the league average. The Royals’ new manager would be wise to stick him in the three-hole in the lineup. When batting at the spot in the lineup, Witt produced an average 13 points higher, reached base 30 points more often and slugged at a 0.94 greater clip.

A Jackson County leader thinks John Sherman is making it clear he wants to move downtown.

The conversation was mostly about charity work, but a downtown baseball stadium did come up.

“It was pretty clear to me without him directly saying it that he wanted the team downtown,” Burnett said in an interview with FOX4 Friday. “The plumbing’s not good at Royals Stadium. There’s not hot water a lot of the time, so it was the sense that he wanted it moved.”

Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman writes about the three most disappointing Royals this season.

Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie has arrived as a star and a mentor.

There are lots of questions for the Dodgers after an early post-season exit.

What’s next for the Braves after a tough ending to the season?

The Blue Jays could move top prospect Gabriel Moreno out from behind the plate to get him more playing time.

Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga plans to opt out and become a free agent.

The Cubs are reportedly interested in free agent slugger Jose Abreu.

The Pirates still haven’t recovered from Sid Bream’s slide in the 1992 NLCS.

Baseball America has 2022 minor league park factors.

Sports Illustrated catches up with former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow who is now involved in soccer.

It’s time for the Cleveland Browns to make some serious changes.

Jordan Poole breaks his silence following the Draymond Green punch out.

Netflix will begin a new ad-supported tier next month.

Why are Russian businessman dying in mysterious ways?

The LA Times has the official fast-food burger power rankings.

Your song of the day is Koufax with Isabelle.