Royals Rumblings - News for February 10, 2022

Royals Rumblings - News for February 10, 2022

David Lesky at Inside the Crown looks at Brad Keller’s rough 2021 season.

But all that said, there was a consistent issue throughout his season and it was his fastball, which was an absolute disaster. And pretty much no matter how you looked at that pitch, it was his biggest problem. By pure results, he gave up a .325 average and .510 slugging percentage on the pitch. Compare that to .179/.269 in 2020, .260/.409 in 2019 and .272/.366 in 2018 and it was significantly different. His fastball had a run value of 18 in 2021. That seems like it might be good on the surface, but run value for pitchers looks at the change in value each pitch provides, so a positive run value for a pitcher is a bad thing. It was the third worst pitch in baseball behind only Jake Arrieta’s sinker and Zach Davies’ sinker.

Ned Yost admits the Royals misevaluated Whit Merrifield when he was a minor leaguer.

“The only one I ever missed out on was Whit Merrifield,” Yost added. “I never thought Whit Merrifield would be an All-Star. I thought Whit was gonna be a very, very solid major-league player, but I missed Whit. I never thought he would be the player that he is today, and he’s the one guy that kind of messed up my record.”

Bill Ladson at MLB.com writes about nine pieces of Royals memorabilia at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

9) Hosmer’s jersey

Fun facts: Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer wore this jersey in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series, when his daring, headfirst slide home in the ninth inning tied the Mets, 2-2, and pushed the deciding World Series game into extra innings. Hosmer’s mad dash exemplified the Royals’ hard-charging, aggressive style of play.

Darin Watson looks back at a forgotten player in Royals history - Chico Ruiz - who died before he got a chance to play for them.

Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman writes about why Adalberto Mondesi is so important right now.

The latest Royals Farm Report podcast is about Omaha and a bunch of nonsense.

Former Royals director of analytics Mike Groopman talks about his new job as an assistant GM with his hometown Red Sox.

Owners plan to make a counteroffer to players on Saturday.

A look back at past work stoppages and when baseball needs to figure it out before games get canceled.

Marc Normandin criticizes how some media figures are framing labor issues to the owners’ advantage.

Boston signs former Gold Glover Yolmer Sanchez to a minor league deal.

Trevor Story is not interested in a position switch.

Jim Callis looks at who will be the top prospects in 2023.

Ranking baseball’s greatest uniforms.

ESPN will televise 38 Big 12 baseball games this spring.

Germany will host regular-season NFL games in 2022.

James Harden wants out of Brooklyn.

The Metaverse is just a new word for an old idea.

Dolly Parton offers to free tuition for her employees that want to further their education.

Good news, everyone! Hulu has a Futurama reboot in the works.

Your song of the day is Jon Batiste with I Need You.