Royals Rumblings - News for July 17, 2023

Jaylon Thompson writes about the impressive starts on Saturday by Alec Marsh and Cole Ragans.

Marsh struck out 11 batters across six innings of work. He threw 92 pitches and relied primarily on his fastball. The heater averaged 94.3 mph and generated 29 swings, nine whiffs and six called strikes.

“It’s exciting to see all the work I put in,” Marsh said. “I did a lot of work over the All-Star break coming into this start. (I was) tweaking some things with the slider. Mixing with some grips and stuff like that. It was really cool to see the results happen right away.”

Manager Matt Quatraro was impressed.

“It was exciting. Both of them threw the ball well,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “That was probably Marsh’s best [start], obviously results-wise but also best stuff. And for the first time seeing Ragans, I definitely wasn’t expecting [98-99 mph] velo. The way he carried himself, the conversations in the dugout, the way he was composed — it was good to see.”

Brady Singer also impressed with his start on Sunday.

“I think that was one of the better sinkers that I’ve had all year,” Singer said. “In the first and second, it was a little iffy. Then, I was really finding it towards the end. I think the sinker needs to come along and today was a positive.”

Anne Rogers reveals the secret to Bobby Witt Jr. and Drew Waters going deep on Sunday.

“So, before the game, I made sure to put on the dark blue bottle of Tommy Bahama cologne,” Waters said.

What happened next?

The outfielder’s moonshot in the fifth inning was the longest of his career and tied for third longest in Royals history with Jorge Soler, who did it on Aug. 3, 2019. An inning later, Witt followed with his team-leading 16th home run of the season.

They were also the first duo in Royals history to both homer and triple in the same game.

The Royals introduced first-round pick Blake Mitchell to the media.

“This kid is different,” Ontiveros said. “He is somebody that I have been following for two years. (Royals scout Josh Hallgren) did his work and everybody has seen him. … I know he is going to do big things in this city. He is a blue-collar kid and he plays the game the right way.”

Beyond Mitchell’s play, there were intangible areas that stood out. The Royals are drawn to Mitchell’s leadership and his approach to the game. “Blake leads by actions,” Hallgren said. “That’s why it’s easy to select a guy (like him), because when he gets here, he is going to work that much harder. I think the more pieces we get like him, we are going to be pretty good.”

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter has five bold predictions for the second half.

Prospects Live has a mid-season prospect list update with Gavin Cross the only Royals prospect at #87.

Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber has elbow inflammation.

The Rays could be a wild card in the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.

Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela will have Tommy John surgery.

The top storylines of the second half of the MLB season.

The Pirates call up top pitching prospect Quinn Priester.

The Red Sox won’t commit to whether they’ll be buyers or sellers.

Dan Szymborski of Fangraphs gives his ZIPS mid-season standings update.

Lionel Messi officially joins Inter-Miami.

Steph Curry hits a hole-in-one at the American Century Championship.

India is trying to become the fourth country to deliver cargo to the moon.

What would an Amtrak revival look like?

Netflix is serious about investing in video games.

Your song of the day is Aerosmith with Walk This Way.