Royals Rumblings - News for February 25, 2025

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Alec Marsh throws off a mound.

Anne Rogers writes about Cole Ragans’ spring debut on Monday.

He was already lighting up the radar gun, a good sign early this spring, averaging 96.9 mph with the 17 fastballs he threw and maxing out at 98.3 mph.

“I was pretty aware of it,” Ragans said. “I thought it was good. Some eights in there. But everything was solid.”

She also profiles pitching prospect Noah Cameron.

He’s also a local kid, having grown up in St. Joseph, Mo., and a big Royals fan. Cameron found out he was added to the 40-man roster when Royals vice president of player personnel Lonnie Goldberg and area scout Matt Price called him.

“They were like, ‘Hey, you’re going to be taking us out to dinner on your new little salary increase,’” Cameron said, laughing.

Jaylon Thompson writes that Alec Marsh threw off a mound Monday.

Marsh threw a bullpen during Royals camp. He reached 25 pitches and continued to build up his strength following the injury.

“That was pretty much my first bullpen of the year,” Marsh said. “I touched the mound once before I got shut down, so I wouldn’t even count that as a bullpen. That was the first time I had gotten off the mound since last year.”

Former World Series hero Edinson Vólquez is helping out in spring training as a guest instructor.

David Lesky writes about his impression of the first few spring training games.

Two things stood out to me from Lynch in his two innings of work that saw him throw 28 pitches. The first is that he led with his changeup, throwing 10 of them and 10 four-seam fastballs and sinkers combined. It’s something to watch because it’s just one spring outing, of course, but he was fastball/slider last year with his changeup coming as his third-most used pitch in 2024. The thing is that it’s a really good changeup. It gets whiffs and always has and has been a good pitch for him in his last three big league seasons.

The other was that he threw two cutters, which isn’t a lot, but he’d thrown three cutters in his career previously. His expanded repertoire and usage intrigued me.

Craig Brown also has early reactions from camp.

Kevin O’Brien of Royals Reporter looks at early pitching performances.

Buster Olney ranks MLB shortstops with Bobby Witt Jr. at #1. [$]

The Tigers sign reliever Andrew Chafin to a minor league deal.

Outfielder Harold Ramirez signs with a Mexican League team.

Mets pitcher Sean Manaea strains his oblique and will likely miss the start of the season.

What would a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. contract look like?

Ten positional battles in spring training around baseball.

The Yankees will no longer play Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” after losses.

Why the collapse of baseball on ESPN is not a good thing.

Guardians owner Larry Dolan dies at age 94.

MLB clubhouse staffers give details on how they take care of all those uniforms.