Weekend Rumblings - News for March 22, 2025

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22 Mar 2025 14:22

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

The Royals rotation is old school.

In case you missed it, the Royals acquired veteran hitter Mark Canha.

Kyle Wright faced live hitters for the first time since 2023, writes Anne Rogers.

“I was definitely nervous again,” Wright said. “I had those pregame jitters, which I was pumped about. Usually the thoughts have just been, ‘Is my shoulder going to survive today?’ This time, it felt like I was getting ready to pitch in a game.”

Wright’s first four pitches were balls, and he acknowledged he was moving too fast, likely because of the adrenaline of what the moment meant.

“I couldn’t help it,” Wright said. “But that’s why you throw lives before you go into a game.”

Jaylon Thompson has a roster projection.

Bubic was competing with Daniel Lynch IV, Alec Marsh and Kyle Wright for the last rotation spot. Injuries have delayed both Marsh and Wright this spring while KC has utilized Lynch out of the bullpen of late.

Lynch thrived as a reliever last season. He is open to assuming a bullpen role again in order to help the team. The Royals will decide if it’s better to have Lynch on the opening day roster or down at Triple-A Omaha to get consistent starts.

David Lesky writes about how the bullpen is shaping up.

On the other side of the spectrum, Harvey has looked fantastic. His velocity is also down from 97.8 MPH to 96.0 MPH on his four-seamer, but he’s got seven innings with just one run allowed to go along with seven strikeouts and no walks and he’s getting swings and misses on all his pitches, though I’d like to see a few more on that splitter given its importance for him. Harvey represents something that, if everything else healthy, can give the Royals a monster in the bullpen they maybe weren’t anticipating heading into 2025 but were hoping was there.

Bradford Doolittle at ESPN writes about the old school Royals pitching staff.

The most important statistic about the Kansas City rotation might simply have been 908 — the number of innings the Royals got from their starting pitchers. That total ranked second in the majors behind Seattle, but 95% of that figure came from K.C.’s five most-used starters, the highest percentage in the majors. Lugo led the way with an AL-leading 836 batters faced.

“Lugo threw 206 innings, I think, last year,” Ragans said, correctly. “That’s where you want to be. The goal is 200 innings. You just watch him, how he goes about his business, how he thinks about pitching. He knows he can get swing-and-miss when he needs it, but he’s trying to get guys off balance and get some weak contact.”

Keith Law at The Athletic has notes about Jac Caglianone and some pitching prospects. [$]

Caglianone pulled his hands in and absolutely unloaded on the ball, with unbelievable power; most hitters would either swing around and hook the ball, or keep their hands inside but only be able to push it the other way. Caglianone took good at-bats the whole game, including an eight-pitch walk where he spoiled a couple of pitches and then took a pitch fairly close to the zone for ball four — a good sign, even if it’s just one plate appearance, because his tendency to chase stuff out of the zone was by far his biggest flaw as a hitter in college.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter has a roster projection.

Matt Chabot at Farm to Fountains has player comps for Royals prospects.

Garrett Hampson is opting out of his contract with Arizona.

The Cubs release infielder Nicky Lopez.

The Orioles sign pitcher Kyle Gibson to a one-year contract.

Arizona signs reliever Justin Martinez to a five-year, $18 million extension.

Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias is suspended through the All-Star break, his second suspension.

The Astros aren’t talking extension with ace Framber Valdez.

The Cubs/Dodgers series in Japan was a wild success.

Kenta Maeda will open the season in the Tigers bullpen.

How Buster Posey plans to rebuild the Giants.

Dan Szymborski writes about boom and bust hitters.