Royals Rumblings - News for May 1, 2019
Happy May Day!
Royals Rumblings - News for May 1, 2019
Jesse Newell has a terrific piece showing why Ian Kennedy has had success as a reliever so far.
“It’ll say 92-93 (mph), but it looked like 98. You’d swing right through it, and you’re like, ‘What?’ You look on video, and you’re this far below it,” Kennedy said, holding his hands a few inches apart. “The ball just carries.”
Behold the power of a high-spin, rising fastball.
In his Mellinger Minutes, Sam looks at the amazing Hunter Dozier.
According to FanGraphs he’s swinging at just 37 percent of pitches. Only 11 hitters have been more selective. This is an enormous shift — last year he swung over half the time, which would have ranked 32nd out of 140 hitters if he had enough plate appearances.
Using Baseball Reference, we can see that 75 percent of Dozier’s plate appearances have ended with him in an even or favorable count. Last year, it was 65 percent, but here’s an added bonus — he’s hitting .320 even when behind in the count, compared to .142 last year. That’s an indication of a better plan, as well as confidence.
Richard Lovelady is adjusting to life in a big league bullpen.
“I think the biggest adjustment is knowing that you could possibly throw every single day, and keeping that mindset and preparedness I guess is going to keep you from being a guy that can do it every day and a guy that can’t,” Lovelady said.
Marc Carig at The Athletic writes about red-asses in baseball, including Ned Yost.
In general terms, Yost describes the ass as playing with an edge, as competing and grinding and not giving a (expletive) what people think. “When I used to play the game,” he said, “when you got on first base, your only thought was, ‘I’m going to kill that son of a bitch on a groundball.’” He carried the mentality into his days as a coach in Atlanta in the early 1990s, riding complacent pitchers in the bullpen and occasionally screaming at players in the shower.
“I felt bad later,” Yost said. “But I just had the ass.”
Nathan Vickers at KCTV 5 looks at the possibility of a downtown stadium in Kansas City.
Johnathan Houser at KC Kingdom looks at how shifts have impacted the Royals.
Alex Duvall at Royals Farm Report previews who the Royals will need to make Rule 5 protection decisions on this winter.
The new Chart Party from Jon Bois features a famous Royals baseball card.
Dodgers outfielder A.J. Pollock may need elbow surgery.
Ichiro Suzuki will serve as an instructor for the Mariners.
Cubs shortstop Addison Russell will be optioned to the minors once his suspension for domestic violence is over.
The first enforcement of a shift ban causes some confusion in the Atlantic League.
The evolution of baseball scouting in the Dominican Republic has caused a huge surge in players from that country.
There continues to be a surge in home runs in baseball.
MLB signs a deal to broadcast 13 games exclusively on YouTube.
ESPN the Magazine will end their print edition in September.
The cost of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles just went up.
Should chopped up cauliflower be able to be sold as “rice”?
Facebook wants to connect you with your secret crush.
A writer pleads for us not to mock St. Louis-style pizza and to that I say - never.
Your song of the day is Bob Dylan with Shelter from the Storm.