Royals Rumblings - News for April 19, 2022

Royals Rumblings - News for April 19, 2022

In a mailbag column, Alec Lewis writes about the evolution of the Royals pitching development program.

The club, overall, has also been more open with their pitchers working with specific coaches from the private sector in the offseasons.

These are signs of progression. Royals reliever Collin Snider, for example, enhanced his arsenal this offseason, working with Vanderbilt quality control coach Sammy Lizarraga, who specializes in pitch design given his three-year experience at Driveline. Royals pitcher Foster Griffin raved about pitch design work in Arizona with Stetter. A scout last fall highlighted the evolution in the types of pitchers the Royals had targeted since 2018: Arms who possess elite and potentially unteachable “stuff” (Asa Lacy, Will Klein, Christian Chamberlain, Noah Murdock, Eric Cerantola, Dylan Coleman, Domingo Tapia, John McMillon, etc.).

David Lesky at Inside the Crown writes that the bullpen has been pretty good.

Why does that matter? Not all bullpen innings are created equal is why. Looking at this team’s bullpen, they’ve allowed 20 runs on 38 hits in 33.2 innings. What happens if you take away Jackson Kowar? That’s down to 13 runs on 27 hits in 30.1 innings. You’re already down to a 3.86 ERA. Yes, the innings were pitched and everything was allowed, but his job was to throw innings and he did. They weren’t good, but those were very low leverage. You can argue that you need to leave Brady Singer’s performance in there because he’s both still a part of this roster and someone who they’re counting on, but I also feel like he’s a low leverage guy right now. Just for fun, knock out his performance too and they’re down to nine runs on 21 hits in 27.1 innings. That’s a 2.96 ERA just from removing outings in one game.

Craig Brown at Into the Fountains writes that the offense has been cold.

After a miserable first half in 2021, it’s nice to see Dozier contributing again. In the early going, he’s hitting .296/.321/.481 in 29 plate appearances with just four strikeouts. With Santana seemingly unable to get on track, the Royals desperately need someone in the middle of this order who can come through.

Through their first eight games, the Royals offense is scoring 3.1 runs per game and hitting at a .207/.263/.303 clip. They are dead last in the AL in OBP and second from the bottom in slugging percentage. In a weekend where they managed to score just four runs, give credit to Dozier (and the bullpen) for securing at least one victory.

Lucas Murphy at Inside the Royals wonders if it is already time to start thinking about trading Andrew Benintendi.

Preston Farr at Kings of Kauffman looks at the farm system.

The Cubs sign former Royals pitcher Luke Farrell.

Freddie Freeman homers in his first at-bat against Atlanta.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is participating in ligth baseball activities.

Former Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta and longtime lefty reliever Tony Watson announce their retirements.

The A’s place six players on the COVID Injured List.

Angels broadcaster Matt Vasgersian is “embarrassed” by remote broadcast difficulties.

The legend of the Fenway Park pizza chucker.

A USFL player was cut for asking for pizza instead of chicken salad.

Apple+ is the likely destination for NFL Sunday ticket.

The biggest comet ever found is cruising through our solar system’s far reaches.

The FBI has an 83-page guide to internet speak.

Jason Momoa will star in a Minecraft movie.

Your song of the day is The Pretenders with Don’t Get Me Wrong.