Royals Rumblings - News for June 12, 2023

The Royals were swept. Again.

“I don’t know how [my teammates] feel about it, but I’m kind of frustrated, a little bit,” veteran catcher and Royals captain Salvador Perez said in a silent clubhouse. “At the same time, it’s part of the game. It’s not the way we want to go. Today is over. We’re not going to change it. We’re going to try to forget about it. Tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll try to do our best again.”

Anne Rogers gets comments from Manager Matt Quatraro on the slumping offense.

“It’s been a handful of days now where we’ve struggled to score,” Quatraro said. “Nobody is going to be happy with that. These guys are all diligent workers, they give their best, and when it’s not coming through or getting the results, it’s frustrating.”

She also writes that Daniel Lynch had his brother on hand to watch his start on Friday.

And she analyzes Bobby Witt’s game-changing speed.

Vinnie Pasquantino landed on the Injured List over the weekend, Jaylon Thompson has the details.

Pasquantino has dealt with shoulder discomfort in his career. Last season, he was placed on the 10-day injured list with a similar injury. He missed 17 days as he recovered from the discomfort.

Pasquantino said the discomfort is in the same shoulder. He described the pain as very similar to last season.

“This is something that I have dealt with before,” Pasquantino said. “I (had physical therapy) all offseason, so this is something that sucks to happen.”

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter digs into the offensive woes.

The Royals have only three hitters with K rates below 20 percent, which includes Vinnie, Olivares, and Eaton. While on a wRC+ end, Olivares is doing okay (98 wRC+ since May 15th), Eaton has been unplayable (-20 wRC+), and Vinnie has seen a tremendous slide in his wRC+ since May 15th (53).

Unsurprisingly, the Royals’ over-eager approach seems to be contributing heavily to the Royals’ hitting woes not just over the past few weeks, but as a whole as well (which further explains the low BB/K ratios).

Jared Perkins at Just Baseball writes that Nick Pratto has been a rare bright spot for the Royals.

On the offensive side, Pratto has been swinging it well. He has been showing a great ability to hit the ball hard, ranking in the 76% percentile for barrel rate and 71st percentile for hard-hit rate, according to Baseball Savant.

Swing and miss has always been a concern for the power-hitting Pratto, and he sports a strikeout rate of over 30%. But, he has done a great job offsetting that by ranking in the 84th percentile in chase rate and 76th percentile in walk rate.

ESPN looks at what each team may do at the trade deadline.

Even if not all the members of the Royals’ future core are playing particularly well, at least K.C. knows who it is and can exercise some patience. While it waits for Bobby Witt Jr., Brady Singer and others to develop and establish a degree of consistency, they have some veterans on hand that could bring back some future value. Aroldis Chapman may be the hottest name in the early trade rumblings, and the Royals might be able to exchange him for a viable prospect. Scott Barlow has really pitched well lately and moving him sooner than later makes sense, if the plan is to move him at all. Either way, the deadline approach seems clear.

Why is Mike Trout off to a sluggish start?

Andrew McCutchen collects career hit number 2,000.

Bobby Miller is off to a historic start for the Dodgers.

Luis Arraez’s hitting stands out in this pitching-dominant era.

Yankees announcer John Sterling is hit in the head by a foul ball.

Is Bo Bichette the new face of the Blue Jays?

How Athletics manager Mark Kotsay tries to stay positive in a tumultuous season.

Mets owner Steve Cohen says jobs are safe despite a slow start.

Marcus Stroman wants an extension, but the Cubs aren’t negotiating.

How MLB has the power to keep the A’s in Oakland.

Former All-Star closer Alex Reyes won’t pitch this year after getting surgery.

Novak Djokovic wins his record 23rd Grand Slam tournament, winning the French Open.

Conor McGregor sends the Miami Heat mascot to the emergency room in a skit gone wrong.

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Wait, Kelis is dating....72-year old comedian Bill Murray?

Ubisoft teases a new open-world Star Wars video game.

Your song of the day is Talk Talk with It’s My Life.