Royals Rumblings - News for July 3, 2025

The Battle for Grass Creek will soon end (for now).

Kansas City’s offense was quiet again in last night’s loss:

It was the 41st time the Royals have been held to two runs or fewer, a mark that leads the league. Kansas City’s eight wins in such contests — tied for third best in baseball — speaks to the pitching staff, particularly the bullpen’s ability to walk the tightrope late in low-scoring games. But there have been plenty of tightropes to walk.

Since the beginning of June — a spell in which the Royals have gone 9-19 — the magic number has been six. In the eight games they’ve reached six runs, they’re 8-0. In the 20 games they haven’t, they’re 1-19.

Brian Bridges is preparing for a big draft:

“Whatever I’ve got to do at 23 and 28, I will do to make the Royals a better organization,” scouting director Brian Bridges said. “Those are very important picks. I don’t see me going under slot, and I don’t see me going crazy over slot. We will be aggressive in the MLB Draft for sure.”

David Schoenfield suggests Kansas City trade away Seth Lugo at the deadline:

It’s starting to look a little desperate in Kansas City. The Royals are only 4½ games out of the third wild card, but they have six teams to climb over, Jac Caglianone has failed to ignite the offense, and they went 8-17 in June. They’ll need a major Bobby Witt Jr. heater just to get close by the trade deadline. The emergence of Kris Bubic as a likely All-Star pitcher plus rookie Noah Cameron give the Royals some rotation depth to deal from, and Lugo remains an extremely attractive trade option, as he’s signed through at least next year (he owns a player option for 2027) and has a 2.74 ERA in 2025. Aside from Caglianone, the Royals’ system lacks impact hitters in the upper minors. Trading Lugo gives them the chance to help their offense for the future.

Kevin O’Brien at The Royals Reporter highlights pitching prospects to watch in the second half:

In six games and four starts with the Naturals, Panzini has a 3.91 ERA in 23 innings pitched, with a 12.5% HR/FB rate. However, his FIP and xFIP are much better at 3.19 and 2.88, respectively. He also has a 4.13 BB/K ratio, highlighted by a 30.8% strikeout rate. That is only a 1.5% decrease from his High-A mark despite the increase in competition.

When looking at his metrics over his career, Panzini has seen a marked improvement in his ability to generate called and swinging strikes this season. His CSW% has been over 30% this year with both the River Bandits and Fireflies, which is impressive for a pitcher with MLB starter potential.

Bobby Witt Jr. missed the cut as an All-Star starter.

Junior Caminero is on a historic pace of grounding into double plays.

Paul Skenes wants to mow grass following his baseball career, doubtless inspired by Zack Greinke.

Kevin Pillar announced his retirement.

Clayton Kershaw recorded his 3000th career strikeout.

Toronto has caught up with New York at the top of the AL East.

Arizona is signing right-handed pitcher Jake Woodford just hours after he opted out of his minor league deal with the Cubs.

Atlanta right-handed pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach is headed to the IL with an elbow injury.

Minnesota right-handed pitcher Bailey Ober is headed to the IL with a hip injury.

The Women’s Pro Baseball League will hold their first tryouts this August. ($)

The early rounds of Wimbledon have seen plenty of upsets.

Pixar’s Elio has disappointed at the box office — perhaps a reflection of behind-the-scenes strife during development.

Should you go to AMC to see Elio, or any other movie for that matter, you can arrive well after the listed screentime without missing anything.

Your song of the day is Dust by Galantis.