From the Fountains: Weekly Royals News Roundup

Here are the latest news happenings for the Royals from last week!

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Overall Team Record: 29-19 (2nd, 1.5 GB)

Upcoming Series (3 Games): Detroit Tigers (23-23) at Kansas City Royals (29-19)

Monday: RHP Michael Wacha (3-4, 4.71 ERA) vs. RHP Reese Olson (0-4, 2.09 ERA)
Tuesday: RHP Alec Marsh (3-1, 2.43 ERA) vs. RHP Casey Mize (1-2, 3.50 ERA)
Wednesday: LHP Cole Ragans (3-3, 3.70 ERA) vs. LHP Tarik Skubal (6-0, 1.80 ERA)

WEEKLY SERIES RECAP

Kansas City Royals vs. Seattle Mariners (5/13 – 5/15): The Royals finished off their road trip by dropping two of three to the first-place Seattle Mariners. The Mariners stymied the Kansas City offense. With their strong rotation, that was somewhat expected, although the Royals have had a hard time finding success in the Emerald City. The first game of the series was Kansas City’s eighth straight loss in Seattle. Game two was better, seeing the Royals win behind a Nelson Velázquez three-run home run. Then, game three was yet another two-run loss.

Oakland Athletics vs. Kansas City Royals (5/17 – 5/19): Heading back home after a West Coast trip was a welcome sight for Kansas City. It was a solid road trip overall, but Kansas City is 18-8 at home versus an 11-11 record away from the friendly confines of The K. That 18-8 record includes a three-game sweep against the Athletics last week to open the current six-game homestand. The offense got back on track to some degree, with the Royals scoring 19 runs across the three contests.

ROYALS NEWS

Kris Bubic has continued his rehab assignment into Northwest Arkansas: “After three appearances in the Arizona Complex League for his first game action since undergoing Tommy John surgery last April, Bubic will continue his rehab assignment in Double-A Northwest Arkansas beginning with his expected start on Sunday. The 26-year-old lefty threw 3 1/3 innings in Rookie ball across three appearances and allowed one run with two walks and eight strikeouts.”

USA Today highlights the Royals in Monday’s updated power rankings: “OK, we’re in. With four seasons of at least 97 losses since 2018, the Kansas City Royals were placed on extended probation in USA TODAY Sports’ power rankings. A couple astute signings here, a little hot streak there? Nope, that wouldn’t be sufficient to convince the rankings cabal of their legitimacy. But we’ve seen enough. Nearly 50 games into the season, the Royals are 29-19. Their plus-55 run differential is better than the Braves and Brewers and Cubs, to name just a few. They’re playing .500 on the road, dominating at home.”

ROYALS ANALYSIS

Kevin O’Brien looks at how much longer the Royals could hang onto Matt Sauer: “I think the Royals will decide on Sauer’s future soon, especially with them 25-17 and looking to stay in the thick of things in the AL Central. With Nick Anderson and Will Smith struggling and even McArthur not looking as dominant in May as he did in April, the Royals need to look to reinforcements in Omaha to help boost their relief output in the late innings. It’s hard to ignore what guys like Pennington are doing in Omaha this season.“

Craig Brown says that it’s time for the Royals to start making moves like a contender would: “Collectively, Royals outfielders are hitting .199/.257/.316. No team’s outfield is batting less than .203. The Royals’ slugging percentage among outfielders isn’t the worst (whew). It’s the second-worst, ahead of only the Woeful White Sox. And their collective on-base percentage? It’s the worst in the game and it’s not even close. The Royals outfield OBP is 17 points worse than the next team which somehow happens to be…the Dodgers?”

Max Rieper looks at how patient the Royals should be with MJ Melendez: “But one of the outfielders the Royals were really counting on to hit this year is MJ Melendez. And while he has made some significant strides defensively, his offense has failed to turn the corner, and has actually regressed this year. His 56 wRC+ is seventh-worst in baseball for players with at least 130 plate appearances, and he is in a horrific slump, hitting just .118 with no home runs and just one walk over his last 22 games.”

Ryan Heffernon evaluates the season Salvador Perez is having in 2024: “It’s impossible to start a Salvador Perez unicorn post without talking about Salvy’s 7.6% walk rate. His career high before 2024 was 4.2%. As I write this, his on-base percentage rests at .390, nearly 60 points higher than his career high in a full season. His batting average is .323, a number that will surely come down, but that is also significantly higher than his .268 career average.”

Jacob Milham says the Royals should move on from Rule 5 pick, Matt Sauer: “I love a good underdog story, and there may be no more common underdog than a Rule 5 Draft pick. That player, while deemed not worthy of a 40-man roster spot, must stay on his new club’s 26-man roster for the entire next season. More often than not, a Rule 5 player doesn’t last the season with his new club, either ending up on waivers or back with his original organization.”

FARM SYSTEM

Preston Farr looks at the path forward for some key Royals prospects: “Pivoting back to Gavin Cross now, the seemingly obvious moves at the big-league level are impactful to the team’s prospects as much as they are to the team’s winning chances. Cross’s resurgence has been a welcome sign and if it continues much longer, he will be forcing a promotion to Triple-A. Only, there’s no space in Triple-A. The current Omaha outfield is patrolled by Tyler Gentry, Drew Waters, Nate Eaton, and John Rave. Even a swap of Velázquez for Waters would leave no place for Cross in the Storm Chasers’ outfield.”

Injury updates in the farm system are mostly good news: “Andrew Hoffmann has been on the 7-day IL since April 17. Prior to that, he had pitched to a 6.14 ERA across four starts. Despite that, his 4.52 FIP showed signs of positive regression on the way. Hoffmann saw an uptick in strikeouts last season after moving to Omaha. He had an 8.97 SO/9 last season at Northwest Arkansas, but that jumped to 10.89 after a mid-season promotion to Triple-A. Thus far in 2024, he’s maintained that at 10.43 SO/9.”

Zac Miller looks at the rise of relief prospect, Walter Pennington: ““Dominant” is the only word I can think of to describe Walter Pennington’s incredible start to the 2024 season. To some, this start comes as a complete surprise, but if you look at Pennington’s track record, it’s not hard to see why he is making notable strides this season. He has been building toward this for years and is now seeing the fruit of his labor on full display, likely earning himself a chance to play in Kansas City at some point in 2024.”

Preston Farr has a second Mock Draft for the Royals: “The 2024 college baseball season has continued to chug on since our last mock draft back in April. Charlie Condon continues to obliterate baseballs. He’s up to 34 homers already in 50 games, which is absolutely absurd. Right there with him, Travis Bazzana has continued to do what we’ve grown accustomed to. Those two are the clear top two options in this year’s draft. Behind them, Jac Caglianone has been on the rise once again, and J.J. Wetherholt has been heating back up since returning from injury.”