Farm to Fountains: Weekly Royals News Roundup

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

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Overall Team Record: 41-32

Upcoming Series (3 Games): Kansas City Royals (41-32) at Oakland Athletics (26-48)

Tuesday: Alec Marsh (5-3, 3.63 ERA) vs. Hogan Harris (0-0, 2.49 ERA)
Wednesday: Cole Ragans (4-4, 3.14 ERA) vs. Luis Medina (0-2, 5.87 ERA)
Thursday: Seth Lugo (10-2, 2.40 ERA) vs. Mitch Spence (4-3, 3.95 ERA)

WEEKLY SERIES RECAP

New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals (6/10 – 6/13): The Royals were happy for New York to leave town, dropping the series three games to one. The first game of the series was fairly close. Starter Seth Lugo allowed four runs across seven innings of work, but the Kansas City offense couldn’t get going against Yankees starter Carlos Rodón. The first game was followed by two non-competitive blowouts that weren’t in the Royals’ favor. Kansas City was down 10-0 before scratching across just a single run in the eighth during game two. In game three, they fell behind 8-0 before getting five runs across in the sixth and seventh innings to lose 11-5. The lone victory in the series was game four, thanks to a walk-off from third baseman Maikel Garcia. Alec Marsh pitched masterfully, allowing just one hit over seven scoreless innings.

Kansas City Royals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (6/14 – 6/17): The Royals were much more competitive in the series against the Dodgers, but the result was more or less the same. Kansas City dropped game one despite a quality start from Cole Ragans. Catcher Salvador Perez gave the Royals a three-run lead with a fourth-inning home run, but the offense couldn’t muster anything else the rest of the contest. The Royals won game two behind an impressive go-ahead grand slam from outfielder MJ Melendez. Melendez saw 12 pitches in the at-bat before lifting one into right field. The slam came off of reliever Blake Treinen — one of the league’s best bullpen arms this season. Game three was difficult for the Royals. They couldn’t solve Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow. The offense failed to get on the board as the Royals left L.A. with a 1-2 series record.

ROYALS NEWS

The Royals call up Nick Pratto, Drew Waters from Omaha (AAA): The Royals announced a couple of roster moves today as both Nick Pratto (INF) and Drew Waters (OF) were called up from Omaha (AAA). As corresponding moves, Hunter Renfroe (OF) was placed on the 10-day injured list and Adam Frazier (INF) was placed on the bereavement list.”

The Royals call up Dan Altavilla, option Will Klein to Omaha (AAA): “Altavilla, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the offseason. He has since made 24 appearances for Triple-A Omaha, allowing 2.63 earned runs per nine innings. That’s at least partially luck, as he has been giving out walks at a 12.8% clip and can’t continue stranding 91.8% of baserunners forever. But his 27.5% strikeout rate with the Storm Chasers was quite strong…”

The Royals traded Logan Porter to the San Francisco Giants: “The Royals announced via their player development account on X that they have traded catcher Logan Porter to the Giants for cash considerations or a player to be named later. Porter was not on the Royals’ 40-man roster and won’t need to be added to that of the Giants.”

MRIs revealed that Hunter Renfroe doesn’t have a fractured toe and could return sooner than expected: “The Royals waited to announce a timeline for Renfroe’s return when he went on the IL because they were awaiting the results of an MRI scan. On Wednesday, they received as good of news as they could have hoped for when dealing with an injury: Renfroe does not have a fracture like the initial X-ray showed. Instead, Renfroe is dealing with a bone bruise with a stress reaction. A CT scan taken Tuesday showed some doubt that the toe might actually be broken, and the MRI confirmed that nothing had separated.”

Starter Michael Wacha will make a rehab start this week in Arizona: “Wacha has been progressing well and is scheduled to make a rehab outing in the Arizona Complex League on June 17 at the Royals’ complex in Surprise, Ariz. If all goes well, manager Matt Quatraro said he would expect Wacha to be back in Kansas City’s rotation the next turn through, when the Royals play the Rangers in Texas the weekend of June 21. (Last updated: June 16)“

Jeff Passan looks at what made Bobby Witt Jr. the superstar shortstop he is today: “Witt, who turned 24 Friday, is the shortstop for the Kansas City Royals, the biggest surprise in baseball. They own the eighth-best record in the game (41-32) after going 56-106 last season, and the signature win of their season came a week before Witt’s birthday. The Seattle Mariners, who occupy first place in the American League West, built an 8-0 lead. Kansas City chipped away, and up came Witt in the bottom of the eighth inning with the deficit shaved to 9-8 and a runner on second.”

ROYALS ANALYSIS

Jackson Ogden looks a five potential trade targets for the Royals: “One of the best relievers in baseball since getting called up, the 36-year-old flamethrower could be on the move. Jansen is set to be a free agent after the season and with the Red Sox’s mediocre performance, the team could be looking to sell one of the better arms on the market. The Royals bullpen has been shaky all year long with no true shutdown piece. Players like James McArthur have moments but fall into slumps, Kansas City can’t afford down the stretch.”

Jaylon Thompson talks to Dan Altavilla after his first appearance since 2021: “I was just sitting over at the hotel waiting to get the call to come over,” Altavilla said. “I was pretty anxious just to, you know, get in the car and drive over. But walking into the clubhouse brought a lot of good memories back. I’m looking forward to making some more.”

Kevin O’Brien dives into three Royals hitters bouncing back: “The Statcast metrics, much like last season, show Melendez to be a better power hitter than the results demonstrate. His barrel rate is 10.8%. Despite this rough season overall, his hard-hit rate is still 40%. Lastly, his xSLG of .447 is 101 points higher than his slugging percentage this year. Melendez still has many problems, and he’s making many stance adjustments that would be better served in a less-pressure-filled environment in Triple-A.“

FARM SYSTEM

David Maher sits down with Storm Chasers manager Mike Jirschele: “You can see that he’s building himself up,” Jirschele told me, “His first outing, last couple innings, he got tired, I thought. He lost a little velocity and his command was going a bit on him, but he battled through it. Other than that, he’s been doing well. He’s throwing strikes and attacking hitters. He’s still not happy with where he’s at with his command, but he can see himself getting better and stronger with every outing.”

Zac Miller looks at three prospects the Royals can’t afford to trade: “The downside of being a “buyer” at the trade deadline is that the organization will have to part ways with some highly touted prospects. It can be an emotional experience for fans who have followed a prospect over the years and dreamed of what their contribution to the major league squad might look like one day, only to see them sent to another team in the blink of an eye. While there are no prospects that I want to see move on to another organization, there are a few that I would strongly advise the Royals to hang on to no matter the asking price.”

Jacob Milham looks at the surging Rodolfo Durán: “Durán changed my mind, though. He won me over right away with his strong arm behind the plate and tremendous swing. This is the primary reason why his recent promotion to Triple-A Omaha was both exciting and inspiring. Kansas City did move on from Logan Porter, another fan favorite, but I believe Durán and he will draw similar fan passion as the 2024 season goes along.”

Royals Review urges the Royals to set Walter Pennington free: “There are two main problems making it harder to bring up Walter Pennington, but neither stem from him specifically. One is the handedness in the bullpen. Long, Smith, and Zerpa are all left handed. Adding Pennington would make half the pen southpaws. The other problem is that Pennington is not on the 40 man roster. Let’s discuss these two issues.”