Here are the latest news happenings for the Royals from last week!
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Overall Team Record: 39-27
Upcoming Series (4 Games): New York Yankees (46-21) at Kansas City Royals (39-27)
- Monday: Seth Lugo (9-1, 2.13 ERA) vs. Carlos Rodon (8-2, 3.08 ERA)
- Tuesday: Brady Singer (4-2, 2.76 ERA) vs. Marcus Stroman (5-2, 3.04 ERA)
- Wednesday: TBD vs. Cody Poteet (2-0, 1.72 ERA)
- Thursday: Alec Marsh (5-3, 4.05 ERA) vs. Nestor Cortes (3-5, 3.68 ERA)
WEEKLY SERIES RECAP
Kansas City Royals vs. Cleveland Guardians (6/4 – 6/6): The Royals split two games against Cleveland on the bookends of Wednesday’s postponed contest. The Royals lost game one 8-5 despite getting out to a strong 5-0 lead. Seth Lugo pitched into the seventh inning but eventually gave up the most runs he’s allowed in an outing all season. Sam Long earned the loss after pitching in relief of Lugo. Tuesday saw Kansas City get back into the win column with a 4-3 win. Cleveland led 3-1 into the sixth inning before Hunter Renfroe and Kyle Isbel brought them back to tie it at four. Isbel was clutch again in the 8th, singling to bring in Adam Frazier and take the lead.
Seattle Mariners vs. Kansas City Royals (6/7 – 6/9): In perhaps what will be the best win of the entire season, the Royals opened the series against Seattle behind Daniel Lynch. Lynch allowed eight earned runs on the day and the Royals fell behind 8-0 at one point. Then, the offense came alive. MJ Melendez homered to bring in three runs in what was a four-run fourth inning. Three more came across in the sixth, and in the bottom of the ninth, the Royals tied the game on a Bobby Witt Jr. triple. The Mariners then intentionally walked Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez before Nelson Velázquez brought home the walk-off run on a fielder’s choice. The Royals won decisively 8-4 in the second game of the contest, then dropped the last game of the series 6-5 on Sunday.
ROYALS NEWS
Royals Review looks at how the ZIPS projections have changed for Royals hitters: “ZIPS uses a weighted average of the last four seasons of a player’s statistics to create their projection, with the weights on more recent seasons being higher, plus adjustments for age using similarity to previous players of that age. The update starts adding in this year’s data as it comes, and the oldest data that was used for the preseason projection drops off. With that in mind, here are the position players for the Royals that have update projections available.”
The Royals are open for a move to Kansas if necessary: “Specifically, Republican and Salina State Senator J.R. Claeys said the STAR Bonds would fund $1.5 billion of the $2 billion development plan to get the Kansas City Chiefs to the state. This makes the bonds more temporarily lucrative and lures the team(s) in with a new stadium, as well as state tax and revenue collection.”
Kris Bubic’s rehab assignment was extended ten days: “In a normal situation, Bubic’s rehab assignment should have been over on Wednesday, which marked 30 days from when the assignment started — the maximum number of days allowed for a pitcher on a rehab assignment before he needs to be activated from the injured list and either rejoin the Major League team or optioned to the Minors. But there’s an exception to this rule with pitchers who are recovering from Tommy John surgery.”
ROYALS ANALYSIS
Kevin O’Brien looks into how a minor adjustment could take Royals ace Cole Ragans to another level: “The key to Ragans’ 2024 and long-term success could hinge on his slider usage and effectiveness. The slider is still far from polished, which makes sense since he’s only been using it for less than an entire season. With more usage, it could be an effective and perhaps his best breaking-offering by the conclusion of the 2024 season. Ragans could set himself up as a perennial All-Star and Cy Young contender for years if that’s the case.”
Mike Gillespie looks at why Will Smith may be a tough trade deadline choice for KC: “The Royals will face a dilemma if they keep winning and Smith continues pitching like he has since late April –– if they’re buyers as the July 30 trade deadline approaches, should they try to move Smith for stretch-run help, or keep him?”
Trey Donovan dives into the struggles of MJ Melendez: “Through the numbers and data we carry on and state that MJ Melendez has had a bad two months of play. A lot of fixes are needed for MJ to turn it around, but we have seen that happen before. Right now it is a question of when the changes start being made. For the Royals, they desperately need one of the corner outfield guys to step up and MJ could be that guy if he has a steady couple of weeks.”
Jacob Milham dives into the Pasquantino and Buxton collision: “First off, Byron is a good dude. I have played against him for a while, not a crazy long time, but enough to get to know him a little bit. He’s not a dirty player by any means. So I know for a fact that is not something he is trying to do by any means.”
Jeremy Greco says it’s time for the Royals to talk trades: “The Royals have one of the worst outfield offenses – though, to be fair, Nelson Velázquez and Hunter Renfroe have been playing a bit better over the past couple of weeks. Similarly, they have one of the worst bullpens when it comes to strikeouts. In order for the Royals to improve, they don’t need their outfield offense or bullpen strikeouts to become elite, they merely need them to improve to something closer to average.”
FARM SYSTEM
Kevin O’Brien looks at three Omaha pitchers who could help the Royals soon: “Pennington’s strikeout numbers are impressive because he’s doing this despite lacking premium fastball velocity. According to Savant, his fastball pitches are a cutter and a sinker, which he throws 26.4% and 18.2% of the time, respectively. The cutter only averages 88 MPH, and the sinker averages 91.1 MPH, so they don’t sport blow-away velocity. That said, his cutter averages a spin rate of 2,333 RPM, and his sinker has a spin of 2,2280 RPM. Those are two of the highest spin rates of any fastball pitch thrown by a Storm Chasers reliever this year.”
David Maher chats with Omaha manager Mike Jirschele: “It certainly helps a pitching staff when you also have one of the best offenses in the minor leagues. The Storm Chasers still lead the International League in run differential at +80 and have had multiple comeback wins over the last couple of weeks. Up and down the Omaha lineup, there’s no one clear threat. Jirschele said, “It seems like it’s someone else every night that comes through.”
Preston Farr looks at surprise standouts so far in 2024: “It’s also the time of year when unsustainable results tend to taper off. It’s crunch time for many prospects hoping to raise their stock within the system. This year, that applies as much as ever. Can Blake Mitchell drive his strikeout rate down, now two months into his first full season? Can Carson Roccaforte rediscover his plate discipline and maintain loft at the same time? Is John Rave really going to be a big leaguer, or will he start to slump similar to last season after a hot start in Omaha? We won’t have the answer to those questions for another couple of weeks, but we do have an idea of some of the surprise prospects shining in the organization this season.”
Max Rieper profiles draft prospect J.J. Wetherholt: “Hailing from the Pittsburgh area, Wetherholt went to West Virginia and established himself as one of the best hitters in the country. In 2023, he won Big 12 Player of the Year honors by leading the nation with a .449 batting average with 16 home runs and 36 steals. He also performed well against top competition in the Cape Cod League and was one of the best hitters on Team USA.”
MLB NEWS
The White Sox are promoting top prospect Drew Thorpe.
The Marlins released OF Avisail Garcia.
The Phillies are showing trade interest in OF Jake McCarthy.