Royals Rumblings - News for June 22, 2023

Daniel Lynch was in attack-mode in his start on Tuesday:

From there, Lynch and Perez relied heavily on the fastball-changeup combination.

“It was one of those things where we just got into a groove,” Lynch said. “I really didn’t spin the ball that much at all today. But I think when something’s working, you just got to stick with it. We didn’t do too much, and that’s how you get on a roll. You’re really just throwing two similar pitches — changeups and fastballs. It’s easy to get into a rhythm, and as long as that keeps working, you just got to stick with it.”

Lynch elevated the heater when he needed to — something he is committed to doing this year, and has been throwing up in the zone with more confidence than ever before — and kept hitters off balance Tuesday with his changeup. He generated nine whiffs on 19 swings (47%) with the pitch.

The same could not be said about Brady Singer on Wednesday:

Singer was in the zone with his slider all day, and the Tigers were waiting for that pitch. Especially against righties, Singer lacked the command on his sinker to establish the inside part of the zone. Tigers hitters were able to eliminate that half of the zone and sit on his slider away.

“I think when his sinker’s on, it’s a tough pitch to hit,” Haase said. “But if he goes to his slider a little bit earlier, I think we were kind of ready for it. Up and down, most of the guys were picking it up a little better than usual today.”

Singer regained some command of his sinker later in the outing, which allowed him to go deep into the game. But the damage was done; the Tigers registered 12 hard-hit balls against Singer (95+ mph) and didn’t chase his slider, whiffing just six times on 27 swings on the pitch.

Also from that game, an update on Matt Beaty:

A scary collision in right field shook up both Beaty and second baseman Samad Taylor in the eighth inning on Wednesday, but Beaty was the one to come out of the game after being assessed by Royals trainers. Manager Matt Quatraro said the 30-year-old left with a “non-concussive whiplash-type injury” and is considered day to day.

“He’s in a good spot, all things considered,” Quatraro said.

Even Tom Verducci is taking notice of Kansas City’s ineptitude:

The pitching development troubles are more deeply rooted. The Royals have not drafted and developed a 10-WAR pitcher since they took Danny Duffy in 2007. From ’16 to ’19, Kansas City drafted and signed 79 pitchers, including 72 from college programs. They have returned 8.4 WAR, which is less than Shane McClanahan, who was in that ’18 draft, has by himself, and a major league record of 53–100.

Those misses help explain how Kansas City wound up with a rotation this year of 32-year-old Jordan Lyles (0–11, 6.72), 39-year-old Zack Greinke (1–7, 4.81), the struggling Singer (4–6, 6.33) and a bunch of openers and tryouts.

Mike Gillespie at KOK has three big questions for the Royals heading into the series in Tampa.

A brutally bad call for blocking the plate led to a Texas Rangers loss on Tuesday.

Cleveland starter Triston McKenzie is shut down with a UCL sprain.

Angels infielder Gio Urshela is likely done for the year with a pelvic fracture.

Yankees starter Carlos Rodón will begin a rehab assignment in Double-A.

Cincinnati has their longest winning streak since 1957 after picking up their 11th consecutive W yesterday.

Part of the MASN war between Baltimore and Washington is resolved as the Orioles will pay the Nationals $100 million.

Who is the best pitcher on the planet right now? That’s a difficult question to answer due to injuries and struggles from marquee names.

The Long, Sad Story of the Stealing of the Oakland A’s.

Several ex-scouts have filed an age discrimination lawsuit against MLB.

Florida took down TCU to secure a spot in the College World Series Finals.

LSU dealt Wake Forest their first loss of the NCAA Tournament to force an elimination game tonight.

An assistant bowling coach at Stephen F. Austin University resigned after he was found to be having an affair. Everyone involved was a consenting adult and there weren’t any laws broken here, but the coach’s quotes are impossibly cringeworthy.

The oldest known Neanderthal carvings were discovered in a cave in France.

The I-95 collapse in Philadelphia did not, as many news outlets predicted, create a traffic calamity.

The FTC is suing Amazon for duping customers into enrolling in Amazon Prime.

Your song of the day is Good Things Fall Apart by Illenium and Jon Bellion.