Saturday Spring Training Gamethread - Dodgers at Royals

yawns theatrically

Ya know, it’s hard enough rooting for a team in the CST from the east coast, but the twice-annual trips to the west coast kill me every time. The only good thing to come out of the 2020 pandemic-shortened season was the fact that the Royals didn’t ever go west.

Anyway, Brady Singer gets his second start of the spring. Hopefully, we’ll see some more progress on that elusive third pitch. That’s really the only thing of interest when he pitches this spring, he’s almost assuredly got a rotation spot locked up and the only question is what he’ll do with it.

Looking to the lineup, it’s very similar to the one I predicted the Royals might use on opening day. Now that I see it written this way, I begin to wonder if I’m already wrong. I can see a scenario in which Bobby Witt Jr. starts the year hitting second because Matheny thinks Salvador Perez offers greater protection in the lineup than Adalberto Mondesi. And if Nicky Lopez can’t bat second, batting him ninth makes a lot of sense as a guy who can get on base before the lineup flips over.

Or maybe Witt’s just batting early in the lineup so that Matheny can make sure he gets an extra AB early before subbing him out. It is spring, after all.

Lineups