Royals Rumblings - News for May 14, 2024

Singer struggles in Seattle.

The Mariners hit Brady Singer around a bit last night, writes Josh Kirshenbaum

“Obviously, my goal is to get out there and throw strikes early in the count and get weak contact,” Singer said. “But location was bad, and they put good swings on them.”

Much of Singer’s trouble came from his sinker — not that he wasn’t putting them in the zone, but that he was leaving them over the plate and too high. Coming into the night, Singer had allowed 13 hits on his sinker across eight starts. On Monday, he gave up six before the fifth inning and only got one whiff with it all night.

Carlos Hernandez is beginning to ramp up his workload in his rehab assignment.

Hernández began his rehab assignment at Triple-A on April 26 but didn’t pitch much at first because of rainouts in Omaha. Now he’s ramping back up to full speed, with six appearances in the first 12 days of May. On May 12, he threw more than an inning for the first time, going 1 1/3 frames with two runs allowed on two hits and a pair of walks.

“He feels good,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said before the Royals’ series opener in Seattle on May 13. “Just progressing along.”

David Lesky at Inside the Crown writes we could see roster changes soon.

One thing I want to caution everyone on with looking at what guys are doing in AAA is how big the gap is between that level and the big leagues right now. There was a great article in The Athletic about it last week. I think for guys who have been in the big leagues before, it’s an easier transition, but I wouldn’t just assume that because a player is dominating in AAA that he’ll come up and the numbers will just be like 15 percent worse, but still good enough. Yes, better than what the Royals have, but I don’t think anyone would anticipate that what the Royals have would have been this bad. Still, I do think there are changes coming in the next week to 10 days on the offensive side that will at least shake things up.

Kevin O’Brien at Farm to Fountains breaks down Nelson Velázquez’s struggles.

I would need to dive more into the swing path data (which is coming to Savant soon), but the initial look seems to suggest that Velazquez is swinging under the ball more often than over the top, as he did in 2023. That could explain not just the regression in hitting performance overall but especially against high fastballs this year.

It’s hard to imagine Velazquez producing a nearly .800-plus slugging against fastballs again like last year.

Royals Weekly is glad to see Vinnie Pasquantino warming up.

While his season-long ground ball rate is 43%, over the last seven games going into Saturday, Pasquantino had a 28% ground ball rate, 28% line drive rate, and a 44% fly ball rate with a hard hit rate of 48.8%, 8.3% barrels/PA%, and an average launch angle of 12.7 degrees.

What does that all mean? It means he’s hitting the ball in the air, and he’s hitting it hard. That’s all you can ask of any hitter.

Roger Cormier at Baseball Prospectus wrote about the wacky promotions Charlie Finley ran with the Kansas City A’s.

Then there was Harvey, the mechanical rabbit. Harvey would rise from the grass to offer baseballs in a basket to the home plate umpire, then lower himself back underground. When Harvey came up, an ascending whistle was heard. When he descended, there was a descending whistle. The organist would play “Here Comes Peter Cottontail.” (You could see the creepy, definitely possessed Harvey in action, if you dare, here.)

Harvey’s compadre, so to speak, was Little Blowhard. Little Blowhard was a compressed-air device that blew the dirt off of home plate when necessary.

MLB Pipeline updates their top 100 prospect list with Royals catcher Blake Mitchell as one of the highest risers.

Outfielder David Peralta opts out of his deal with the Cubs to become a free agent.

MLB announces a streaming deal with Roku for Sunday games.

Why its time for the Nationals to call up prospect James Wood.

Pitching has been dominant this year.

Could the Cardinals trade Nolan Arenado?

“Playing the kids” is working for the Athletics.

What it’s like to be a baseball beat writer.

The New York Senate honors....Red Sox legend David Ortiz?

The Chiefs will open the 2024 season against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Washington Huskies pay a record NIL deal for a basketball transfer.

GameStop stock is surging again, but not like its meme-stock days.

Why Conan O’Brien is such a throwback.

Was 1984 one of the greatest summer blockbuster seasons for movies?

Your song of the day is Huey Lewis and the News with The Heart Of Rock & Roll.