Royals Rumblings - News for May 3, 2022

Royals Rumblings - News for May 3, 2022

Mike Matheny doesn’t have many answers for his dormant offense.

It’s not clear what lever the Royals can pull to try to get more out of their offense. “If I knew, I’d have already done it,” Matheny said.

“There’s only so much we can do. Hitting is hard. I mean, it’s hard. You’re going to go through some ruts. It’s going to happen with every club. Hopefully, we’re getting our rut out of the way and we can start putting some things together.

“It’s confidence as much as anything right now for each of them to feel good about walking into the box and what their approach is and that their swing is going to put them in a place to have success. That usually comes from success. We’ve got to get a couple going. That’s it.”

Lynn Worthy gets reaction from MJ Melendez on his call up.

“It was just a very emotional moment,” Melendez said of the phone call to his family. “I think from the moment I was told by my manager and was talking to my family, I just saw a glimpse of everything leading up to this moment. Just really taking everything in and realizing that all the stuff, all the hard work I put in has finally gotten me here to this moment. I’m just really grateful for that.”

Anne Rogers writes about how Mike Matheny might use him.

“It’s not all scripted out,” Matheny said. “We just go one day at a time, let [Melendez] know we’re going to use him when he gives us the best chance for us to win. To stay ready with his bat. It’s a little dicey, though, when you don’t have another backup catcher. That’s a position that you can’t just pull somebody off the field and put them behind the plate. It’s a little bit of a challenge, more so than most other positions.”

Alec Lewis writes about how Daniel Lynch’s slider has been so effective.

Asked what makes the pitch so effective, Royals catcher Cam Gallagher highlighted the way Lynch uses his fastball. Lynch bears it up and in against right-handed hitters. His gyro slider travels toward the plate on the same plane, but as it zips close to the hitter gravity pulls it downward.

“He really commands that fastball in,” Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield said of Lynch. “So you’ve got to respect it. But when you gear up and cheat for it, that slider plays.”

Craig Brown at Into the Fountains considers how the Royals will get MJ Melendez in the lineup.

I suppose the plan will be for Melendez to get some at bats as the designated hitter, while rotating behind the plate for Perez. As you know, Perez is getting around a quarter of his time as the designated hitter himself, so maybe going forward this is a rotation of sorts between the two. What then, of Hunter Dozier? Dozier is off to a decent start at the plate when it comes to hitting for power. Overall, he has a 108 wRC+ with a .239/.271/.444 on the back of three doubles and three home runs. I would assume he isn’t going anywhere. Except first base, that is. Which means that we’ve likely seen the end of Carlos Santana as a regular.

David Lesky at Inside the Crown justifies the Royals keeping Kris Bubic in the rotation over Brady Singer.

This may just be anecdotal, but I’m seeing quite a bit of people thinking the Royals have mistreated or misused Brady Singer. They sent him down to AAA a few days ago to get back to starting, which I think is probably the right move. But he did start the year in the bullpen and didn’t get much in the way of chances. He threw three innings in the third game of the year and then got two batters in Seattle and two innings against the White Sox in Chicago. What I’m confused about is why people seem surprised that Kris Bubic beat him out for a starting spot. The reality is that Bubic had been the better pitcher through each of their first two seasons and had a better spring than Singer. If you want to argue Singer’s upside is higher, I don’t know if I’d argue with you or not, but I think it was a perfectly reasonable decision to give Bubic the job over Singer.

The Mets designate former All-Star second baseman Robinson Canó for assignment.

José Ramírez and Nolan Arenado win Player of the Month honors.

Jeff Passan looks at how MLB grades umpires.

Outfielder Willie Calhoun wants a trade out of Texas.

The Padres sign pitcher Yusmeiro Petit to a minor league deal.

How can MLB fix its “too many pitchers” problem?

How Buck Showalter is re-shaping the Mets.

The George Springer deal is paying off for the Blue Jays.

Who makes the best swing decisions in baseball?

Your guide to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Receiver DeAndre Hopkins is suspended six games for violating the PED policy.

Why does an Oreo’s cream stick to just one wafer when twisted apart?

A plunging waterline at Lake Mead is revealing dead bodies.

A new Yo! MTV Raps is coming to Paramount Plus.

Your song of the day is Bruce Springsteen with Brilliant Disguise.