Royals Rumblings - News for February 28, 2023

Zack Greinke talked about the pitch clock with Aidan Richardson in a special to the Star.

“I think it will be more entertaining to watch, but it might be a little tough for guys the first year,” he said. “I might have trouble in longer innings. If there’s 25- or 30-pitch inning (and then) a quick inning and I have to go back out, I think there might be some issues with recovery.”

He also talks data with Anne Rogers.

Greinke enjoys using data to gain insight on his pitches — it’s part of what’s made him effective as he gets older, as well as his willingness to change.

“I like it a lot because I believe in it,” Greinke said. “All those number things. Especially because in Houston, they would call guys up that weren’t even good prospects. And they’d say, ‘This guy’s going to be good because his pitches do this.’ And the pitcher ended up being good.”

Anne also writes about new bullpen coach Mitch Stetter.

“To me, it was huge. I’m really glad we landed with Mitch as the bullpen coach because of that,” Quatraro said. “And the respect that he’s earned from these players over the years. And kudos to him that we ended up landing him, because we interviewed outside people, and it kept coming back to, ‘OK, well, Mitch seems really fit for this.’ It wasn’t just handed to him; he earned it through the interview process.”

Hurlers who have worked with him in the past have raved about Stetter’s knowledge of pitching and analytics, giving him credit for big parts of their development.

They gravitate toward his low-key personality.

And gives an update on Aroldis Chapman.

The relief pitcher slipped, cracked a tooth and split open his lip, requiring a trip to the emergency room and stitches. Chapman spent most of the night icing the swollen lip and didn’t get much sleep, manager Matt Quatraro said, so the Royals pushed his first appearance back a couple of days.

Rustin Dodd at The Athletic writes about Matt Quatraro’s evolution from Deadhead to Royals manager.

When Quatraro sat down for his second interview with the Royals, club officials gave him an assignment. They wanted him to lay out four days of lineup construction against a number of different pitchers while factoring in an off day, a doubleheader and a number of different scenarios. Quatraro said he tried not to overthink the preparation; he wanted to let his typical thought process take over naturally..

As Quatraro explained his lineup choices, Royals officials noticed an ease in his delivery. He listened to each question and thought through his answers. He did not want to play nine guys each night. He planned to incorporate the whole roster, to seek out matchups and give guys days off, to think long term instead short term. He told Picollo that there would be some nights where you cannot chase the win. “He thinks about it more long term,” Picollo says.

David Lesky at Inside the Crown writes about his reactions to the first few games.

Nick Loftin looks great. I had heard from someone a few days ago that Loftin looks big. I mentioned this on the Royals Weekly podcast that I recorded last night with the guys and I always take that with a grain of salt. The reason is that players are just generally bigger than you expect, so a lot of times when you see someone in person, you don’t realize that they actually aren’t any bigger than they were. Then Loftin came to the plate on Saturday in the televised game and I immediately realized that Loftin looked much bigger. And then he promptly deposited a ball over the fence. Loftin is a guy who I wrote about before last season as someone who I thought could jump to top-100 lists. Then the Royals put him in center field to start the year before getting him back to the infield and he was perfectly fine.

Former Astros GM James Click joins the Blue Jays front office.

Why it’s not crazy for the Padres to spend like crazy.

The average MLB salary rose 14.8 percent last year.

Who will the pitch clock impact the most?

How pitch framing is evolving with the strike zone.

How the Dodgers are using weighted bats to their advantage.

Three years ago, a thief was stealing MLB jerseys from clubhouses in an alarming breach.

MLS coverage on Apple+ worked as advertised, which could mean for an expensive future for fans.

A former NFL player now makes millions selling Pokémon cards.

Nobody really knows if old nuclear weapons will still work.

A lab is trying to grow “mushroom computers.”

Forget Cocaine Bear, next up is Attack of the Meth Gator!

Your song of the day is Grateful Dead with Touch of Grey.