Royals Rumblings - News for June 21, 2022

Royals Rumblings - News for June 21, 2022

The Royals activated Cam Gallagher and Lynn Worthy writes how the Royals will handle three catchers on the roster.

“The idea, more than anything else is — like today with MJ DH-ing and then the day Salvy DHs — that’s a tough spot if you need to come pickup the catcher and then you’ve got to cover,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said.

“We’ve got more guys on the bench now, so you could rationalize that, but it’s just the kind of position you just don’t want to come up short in your coverage. And it gives us the ability to bring somebody else in without burning that spot with the DH being in the game and eventually having to have the pitcher hit.”

David Lesky at Inside the Crown recaps the weekend and sees some promising play.

It’s just another reason why the Royals struggles can be so frustrating to watch. They don’t feel like a team that should be this bad. But they are. I don’t mean to be so negative following a series win, but I’ll get to a stat that I think is interesting even if it means nothing that I started to think about a few weeks ago and finally looked into. The Royals looked like the better team this weekend and they get these A’s again next weekend, but I’m just hopeful they can at least get back to the level of what we thought they could be before the season. I’m not asking for a trip to the playoffs. I’m asking for competent baseball.

Craig Brown liked what he saw out of Brad Keller.

When Keller is on, he’s a ground ball machine. On Saturday, he finished with a 53 percent ground ball rate. That was his highest since April. And you recall how he finished April, right? Just a tidy 2.14 ERA with 14 hits allowed in 24.2 innings. His average ground ball rate that month was 57 percent. So if he’s working in that neighborhood, you know the results will follow.

Rosters are limited to 13 pitchers now, and Mike Matheny is not a fan.

“It’s just subjecting our guys to injury,” Matheny said. “Then they limit our number of times we can send guys down too. I know what they’re doing, but it doesn’t make sense in application to what we’re trying to do throughout the season to protect these guys. I hope I’m one of 30 (managers) saying the exact same thing today.”

Dayton Moore expressed confidence in pitching coach Cal Eldred.

Anne Rogers writes that Andrew Benintendi is the Royals player deserving of a trip to the All-Star game.

It’s easy to put Salvador Perez’s name here for his eighth All-Star nod, or even a rookie like Bobby Witt Jr., who is sure to earn plenty of appearances at the Midsummer Classic in his career. But Benintendi earned his first Gold Glove last year and has proven to be as reliable as they come for the Royals, so why not add an All-Star appearance to his résumé?

Alec Lewis writes about under-the-radar hitting prospects in the system, like Maikel Garcia.

So is his plate discipline. As of Sunday morning, no Royals minor leaguer had walked more than Garcia (34).

“He has tremendous hand-eye coordination at the plate,” said Northwest Arkansas manager Chris Widger.

The question surrounding Garcia’s long-term projection mostly revolves around power. He’s added weight, up this season to 168 from his usual 145 pounds. Just this week against a machine in batting practice, he hammered a ball out to straightaway center, listed at 400 feet at Arvest Ballpark.

The staff at MLB.com considers who may be baseball’s next superstar.

David Adler, researcher/reporter: Bobby Witt Jr. And it won’t even take five years. I’m all in on him. Love the swing, love the tools, love everything.

Feinsand: I can’t argue with Julio. We’ve seen the Mariners produce the biggest star in the game before, but I do think he will need to be on a contender to get the big national exposure come October to really take that jump.

One executive told me this year that Witt is already the most athletic player in the game. The K.C. part is what stopped me from taking him over Wander.

Adler: I just hope that Witt is so good, it won’t even matter where he plays.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter writes that Dayton Moore’s legacy is getting complicated.

Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman considers if Moore would draft his son Robert.

Good Morning America surprises one Royals fan with a trip to Kauffman Stadium and a message from Brady Singer.

The Padres are optimistic Manny Machado won’t need a stint on the Injured List.

The Dodgers acquire outfielder Trayce Thompson from the Tigers.

The Yankees sign former Royals infielder Chris Owings.

Why are the Tigers so bad?

Paul Goldschmidt is showing no signs of slowing down.

The Yankees are keeping pace with the 1998 version of the club that was a behemoth.

The ex-wife of domestic abuser and former sportswriter Jonah Keri speaks out.

Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder won’t testify before the House in a workplace culture investigation of the franchise.

Coach K says he won’t attend Duke games next year.

Our brain has a “low power mode” that blunts our senses.

Is the Google algorithm not as good as it used to be?

There is a Game of Thrones spin-off based on Jon Snow in development.

Your song of the day is Eminem with Without Me.