Weekend Rumblings - News for June 21, 2025

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Earl Weaver would be proud.

The Royals hit their second three-run home run in three games in Friday’s win over the Padres.

“The three-run homer is big,” Quatraro said, speaking on India’s three-run blast. “We talked about that it’s been a long time for us. Two of them in this road trip have been big. It’s nice for us to be able to do it the other way too. (We also scored) two runs without a home run off of (Jason) Adam, which is tough because his numbers are outstanding.”

Jonathan India thinks the bats are getting going on the road.

“We went through a tough stretch recently and we got swept at home the whole series,” India said postgame on the Apple TV+ broadcast. And you know, we felt that. We wanted to come on the road, show what we’ve got and play Royals baseball.”

David Lesky writes about Jac Caglianone’s first two MLB home runs on Thursday.

This one was the visually pleasing one. It was a slider that just slid right into his bat path and he absolutely mauled it. It was barreled, a home run in all 30 parks and a 1.000 xBA. There isn’t much to say about this one other than that if he’s started to find that home run stroke, we saw what happened in the minors. They come in bunches for him. I’ll go back to a point I made earlier in today’s newsletter. The Royals should have more home run power than they do. If Caglianone is going to start tapping into his, this offense could look very different very quickly. They are still not without their many issues, but you can see things coming together fast if he gets it started with the rest of the main cogs seeming to be hitting pretty well too.

Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic [$] has the latest on the trade market for the Royals.

The Royals, though, need more than just Witt to get hot. While they are only 1 1/2 games back in the race for the final AL wild-card spot, they’re wasting a rotation that entered Thursday ranked fourth in ERA. So it’s reasonable to ask, would they trade a starting pitcher to get the slugging outfielder they need?

At the moment, with left-hander Cole Ragans out until at least July with a rotator cuff strain, the question is premature. And even if Ragans returns by the deadline, any trade of a starter would risk compromising the Royals’ biggest strength – a rotation that, like all rotations, is inherently fragile.

Jim Bowden at The Athletic has one trade idea for the Royals.

7. Royals — Acquire OF Kyle Stowers from Marlins for LHP David Shields and C Ramon Ramirez

The Royals are looking for power and acquiring Stowers from the Marlins would make a lot of sense. Stowers, 27, is slashing .272/.340/.460 (120 OPS+) with 10 homers and 34 RBIs. He would become the Royals’ everyday left fielder. He is under team control through the 2029 season.

Craig Brown also recaps Thursday’s game with Caglianone’s bombs.

Angels skipper Ron Washington steps away from the team for health reasons.

Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski takes a perfect game into the seventh in a blowout win over the Twins.

Rookie Nick Kurtz homers for a third straight game in an Athletics win over the Guardians.

Pirates pitcher Dennis Santana is suspended four games for swiping at a fan.

The Mariners designate Rowdy Tellez for assignment.

The Red Sox demote rookie Kristian Campbell and refute reports that Rafael Devers took issue with him learning first base.

MLB hands out suspensions after the bench-clearing incident between the Padres and Dodgers Thursday.

What other big players might be traded this summer?

Cal Raleigh has the most home runs ever by a catcher before the All-Star break.

J.J. Cooper at Baseball America [$] writes why today’s MLB players are better than those in the past.

Mookie Betts is a star shortstop now.