From the Fountains: Weekly News Roundup

Preston Farr April 14, 2024 in News Tagged Kansas City Royals, Maikel Garcia, Salvador Perez - 8 Minutes

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

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Overall Team Record: 10-6

Upcoming Series: Kansas City Royals (10-6) at Chicago White Sox (2-13)

Monday, April 15: RHP Seth Lugo vs. RHP Nick Nastrini
Tuesday, April 16: RHP Brady Singer vs. TBD
Wednesday, April 17: RHP Michael Wacha vs. RHP Chris Flexen

WEEKLY SERIES RECAP

Houston Astros at Kansas City Royals (4/9 – 4/11): There’s no other way to put it: the Royals dominated the Astros in every phase of the game. The closest affair was the series opener. Cole Ragans struggled by his own recent standards but did enough to keep Kansas City in the game. The bullpen was lights out until Salvador Perez hit an RBI single to give the Royals the walk-off victory. From there, it was all downhill for Houston. Seth Lugo was fantastic with six innings of two-run ball on Wednesday. The Royals jumped on Astros starter, Spencer Arrighetti, who was making his MLB debut. A seven-run third inning propelled the Royals to an 11-2 victory. Then on Thursday, the offense stayed hot much to the chagrin of Houston starter Hunter Brown. The Royals put up nine runs in the first inning and never looked back, clinching a 13-3 win and a series sweep.

Kansas City Royals at New York Mets (4/12 – 4/14): The Mets entered the series almost as hot as the Royals and put up a much bigger fight than Houston. In the first game of the series, Kansas City’s seven-game win streak came to an end with a 6-1 loss. Starter Michael Wacha allowed five runs over six innings and the Royals offense couldn’t figure out Mets starter Luis Severino. Game two saw Kansas City come away victorious despite a rough start by Alec Marsh. Marsh allowed four runs over five innings. Salvador Perez and Nick Loftin combined for seven RBI and the Kansas City offense picked up Alec Marsh. The series finale went to New York in a 2-1 pitching duel. Cole Ragans was back to his dominant self, pitching six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. Unfortunately, reliever Chris Stratton earned the loss, allowing two runs to score in the home eighth inning. Catcher Salvador Perez exited the game early with an apparent injury.

ROYALS NEWS

Catcher Salvador Perez exited Sunday’s game after a collision at home plate: “With Royals left-hander Cole Ragans on the mound, the Mets had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom fourth when Tyrone Taylor lined out to left fielder MJ Melendez, who threw a perfect strike to Perez. The 33-year old catcher applied the tag to Starling Marte, who collided with Perez on the slide. A few seconds later, after Perez showed the ball to home-plate umpire Chris Segal, Marte was called out.”

Second Baseman Michael Massey continues his rehab assignment in Omaha: “Massey was given Friday off to see how his body responded after playing three consecutive games for Triple-A Omaha. The second baseman is expected to be back in the lineup on Saturday against Gwinnett. Royals manager Matt Quatraro said the team is “literally taking it day to day” when asked if Massey could return Monday when the Royals travel to Chicago to face the White Sox.”

Jackson Ogden writes that the new era of Royals baseball is here: “I want it to be very clear I’m not saying this solely because of the 6-4 start, although that has been nice. My thesis behind the belief is that the Royals are once again fielding a competent coaching staff. The job Pitching Coach Brian Sweeney has done is beyond words. After inheriting the mess former pitching coach Cal Eldred left behind, Sweeney was given an impossible task in 2023. We saw glimpses of his teachings with guys such as Kris Bubic and Cole Ragans, but the pitching staff as a whole was still a gigantic liability.”

ROYALS ANALYSIS

Jeremy Greco at Royals Review says you can buy into the Royals early success: “Yes, the sample size of the season is small, but it’s already having a huge impact on the way their season plays out. And, of course, that makes sense. Small sample sizes shouldn’t be projected out as if everything will play out exactly the way it has, and no one is projecting the Royals to finish the year with more than 100 wins, which is what would happen in that scenario. But they do get to keep every win they earn in the meantime.”

Jacob Milham at Kings of Kauffman considers what will happen when Michael Massey returns: “No MLB team finishes the season with the same 26 players it started with, and the KC Royals are no exception. Pitchers Jake Brentz and Carlos Hernández are not coming off the injured list soon, but second baseman Michael Massey is. The 26-year-old lefty landed on the 10-day IL on March 28 and hasn’t appeared in a Royals game this season. But, he is trending in the right direction with an immenent return. Massey’s status will have ripple effects, but mostly on one player.”

Kevin O’Brien looks at Maikel Garcia’s batted ball success this season: “

Unfortunately, on a hitting end, he tailed off a bit at the end of the season and proved slightly below average in most categories. He was particularly lackluster in power, as he only posted an ISO of .086 and an HR/FB% of 4.1%. This year, though, has been a different story for Garcia through the Royals’ first ten games. After only hitting four home runs in 515 plate appearances in 2023, Garcia has hit three home runs in 44. This included a home run in his first plate appearance of the year against Minnesota ace Pablo Lopez.”

Michael Farina writes that the Royals starting rotation is built for success: “The correlation is clear: Royals starters pitch well, the team plays well. Through these first ten games, Royals SP’s have pitched more innings than any other rotation (62) and have allowed the second-fewest runs (11). That’s an insane 1.60 ERA for a collective of pitchers averaging more than six innings per start. The fab five have accumulated eight Quality Starts when no other team has more than five. Here are some more fun rankings to highlight their excellence:”

FARM SYSTEM

Mike Gillespie at Kings of Kauffman looks at Logan Porter’s recent surge: “Porter can hit and has some defensive versatility, but the Royals are on a roll and probably aren’t prone to fix what isn’t broken. They’re also getting along quite well with Perez and Fermin, and could get by with MJ Melendez behind the plate if injuries struck Perez and Fermin in the same game, but only until reinforcements could arrive.”

Preston Farr looks at Frank Mozzicato’s development and the Royals process: “Much has been made of velocity for Mozzicato and that will again be a key focus for him in the season ahead. He’s sat 88-90mph with his four-seam fastball thus far and that didn’t appear to change much in his first start on Sunday. Mozzicato’s velocity sat at 86-88mph on the day. That velocity won’t get it done against competition in the upper minor leagues — but he isn’t there yet. It was Frank’s first start of the season and the ramp-up for velocity is still in progress. Beyond the velocity, plenty more is being developed for the Royals pitching prospect.”

Lynn Faulk recaps the Opening Week for the Columbia Fireflies: “The Columbia Fireflies opened their 2024 season in Augusta this past weekend to take on the Green Jackets. After losing one-run games on Friday (1-2) and Saturday (4-5), explosive offense and dominating pitching led the way to a win on Sunday 4-1. Infielder Jhonny Perdomo provided Friday’s lone run, in a game where the pitching staff struck out 14. Friday’s debut for catcher Blake Mitchell saw him go down three times on strikeouts and was also awarded an error. However, he came out Saturday and showed the prospect potential.”

Zac Miller does the same for the Omaha Storm Chasers: “A slow start to the week offensively led to the Storm Chasers being shut out in its first two games. From then on, they went 3-1 and saw some strong offensive performances from CJ Alexander, Cam Devanney, Devin Mann, and Nate Eaton. The starting rotation saw mixed results but had strong starts from Daniel Lynch IV and William Fleming. The relievers came back down to earth after a strong start to the season but still had a few standout performers in Walter Pennington, Sam Long, and Will Klein. The results were about as average as you can get: a 3-3 record with 23 runs scored and 23 runs allowed.”

Blake Mitchell hit his first professional home run on Saturday: “

Mitchell was met with a pitch down the middle from Myrtle Beach righty Francis Reynoso. The left-handed hitter unleashed a strong swing, flipped his bat and admired the ball as it sailed over the fence at Segra Park. MLB’s No. 87 prospect knew he just hit his first professional home run when he made contact with the ball. “I got the first one out of the way,” Mitchell said after Columbia’s 9-0 win. “I was glad to finally square up a pitch this week. I’ve been struggling a little bit early on, it’s good to pick it up.”