Royals Rumblings - News for May 7, 2020

07.05.2020 15:00

Royals Review

Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

How Mike MacDougal helped break the Royals home run record.

Royals Rumblings - News for May 7, 2020

Vahe Gregorian catches up with Ned Yost, who reflects on his tenure with the Royals.

Against the grain as it was, he adapted. He ceded more control to his coaches, whom he credits for everything, and loosened the reins in the clubhouse … and seemingly within, too.

“At times it got to be a point where (I) would stifle their personality a little bit,” he said, before coming to understand “if you allow them to be themselves, you’ll probably get the most out of them. And I think that was the lesson I learned more than anything else.”

Jeffrey Flanagan shows how a Mike MacDougal trade led to the Royals getting Jorge Soler.

He also ranks the top international signings in club history.

1) Salvador Perez, (C) 2011-18, present

The Royals struck gold when scout Juan Indriago signed a skinny 16-year-old Perez out of Venezuela in 2006. By ‘11, Perez had made his Major League debut, launching a career that is a slam dunk to wind up in the Royals Hall of Fame and possibly even Cooperstown.

Perez has won five Gold Glove Awards, been to six All-Star Games, won two Silver Slugger Awards and was the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 World Series.

“Best defensive catcher and best catcher period I’ve ever been around,” teammate Danny Duffy said.

Alec Lewis looks at how the Royals constructed their roster.

More than half of the club’s 40-man roster has known only the Royals’ organization. The club scouted the player in high school and/or college. It then selected the player, providing him an opportunity to work with its player development staff. Interestingly enough, 10 of the 40 players were selected in the fifth round of the MLB Draft or beyond.

Ben Badler at Baseball America looks at prospects who could be breakout stars.

Erick Peña, OF, Royals: Signed out of the Dominican Republic last year for $3,897,500, Peña has the attributes to develop into a premium offensive threat. He has a fairly compact lefthanded swing with good path, a disciplined approach for a 17-year-old and the ability to barrel balls at a high clip against both righties and lefties. At 6-foot-3, 180 pounds, Peña has fast bat speed, strong hands and has flashed above-average power, with the space to fill out and be a potential 30-plus home run threat.

Royals minor league pitching coach Steve Luebber doesn’t think minor league teams will be axed.

“Baseball had said these 40-something places are below standard and let’s do something. I think somebody leaked it, and now it became an item where it said if baseball doesn’t do this, they are going to kill off these teams. I don’t think that was necessarily the case. I think part of the problem was some in baseball want everyone to have the same number of teams, the same number of players, so teams like the Yankees who have extra teams and extra players don’t have an advantage. I think they want to bring the affiliates up to the 21st century where they have better weight workout facilities, better clubhouses, better schedules and travel.

Next week, MLB is expected to present the union with a plan to resume spring training around mid-June.

The pros and cons of the most likely scenarios for baseball to resume.

Taiwan will begin to allow fans to attend baseball games.

Javier Baez talks contract extension with the Cubs.

Cal Ripken suggests throwing at batters could stop sign-stealing.

Eight amazing seasons that could only happen in the 1980s.

Eight Hall of Famers you may have forgotten were traded.

Former Mets manager Bobby Valentine is considering running for political office.

With baseball gone, how are the hot dog and peanut industries faring?

Baseball has helped the country get over crises before.

Sinclair reveals there are minimum game requirements for teams with Fox regional sports networks.

Ranking the best NBA movie cameos.