Weekend Rumblings - News for August 8, 2020

Can Adalberto Mondesi win a Gold Glove someday?

Weekend Rumblings - News for August 8, 2020

Lynn Worthy writes about how young Royals pitchers benefit from having Salvador Perez behind the plate.

“He’s really been incredible through this whole process,” Singer said of Perez. “He’s made it a lot easier on me, that’s for sure. It’s just his experience of not only catching in the big leagues, but also hitting.

“He can take a hitter’s perspective while catching, so he’s helped me tremendously. I lean on him, basically, for everything. If I don’t feel comfortable with something or I don’t understand or I forget the scouting report during an at-bat, I have no doubt that he knows what’s going on and he can help me through it.”

The bullpen has looked good this year.

Alec Lewis at The Athletic had a mailbag column, and he writes about expectations for Adalberto Mondesi.

Mondesi is chasing fewer pitches out of the zone in 2020 (34.4 percent) than he did in 2019 (37.9 percent), but he has continued to struggle against breaking balls, whiffing 56 percent of the time on those pitches. Identifying breaking balls better and chasing them less often will be important for his development.

So, too, will be his play in the field. Mondesi has committed three errors thus far in 2020, all three early in the season. His defense may not have the floor of Alcides Escobar, but the ceiling? Some evaluators argue it’s higher. The Royals don’t like to put limitations on players, and I don’t like putting limitations on Mondesi. So, to answer your question: Yes, I think Mondesi will at some point win a Gold Glove Award for the Royals in his career.

Jeffrey Flanagan reports that Matt Harvey is opening some eyes at the Alternate Site.

Could right-hander Matt Harvey wind up being part of the Royals’ plans in 2020?

There are encouraging signs. Club officials have indicated Harvey, who was signed by Kansas City as a Minor League free agent less than two weeks ago, has been throwing well at the team’s alternate training facility at T-Bones Stadium.

“Throwing well and working hard,” one club official said.

Mike Montgomery and Glenn Sparkman will be out for awhile.

At Royals Academy, Clint Scoles wonders if the Royals will end up trading from their pitching prospect depth to acquire a bat.

David Scharff at Kings of Kauffman writes that Kyle Zimmer’s time to shine is now.

The Cubs sign former Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera to a minor league deal.

Indians hitting coach Ty Van Burkleo opts out of the season over COVID-19 concerns.

Is the Dodgers defense the best in recent memory?

Why aren’t there any more elite first basemen?

Starting pitching workloads are significantly down this year.

Stephen Strasburg will make his season debut on Sunday.

Zack Greinke likes hanging out with the cutouts.

Baseball America reports that negotiations between MLB and the minor leagues are not going well.

A’s bench coach Ryan Christenson apologizes for making what looked like a Nazi salute.

Former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen still hates his former player, Nick Swisher.

A former Angels employee is indicted for supplying the drugs connected with the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Royals Twitter fan Tom Fehr seems to have found the Twitter burner account of NFL quarterback Derek Carr.

Mizzou football gets screwed by the changes to the SEC schedule.

How Ellen DeGeneres’s facade of kindness crumbled.

How Lovecraft Country reappropriates the racist creations of HP Lovecraft.

Star Trek: Lower Decks shows the franchise loosening up.

Your song of the day is Miles Davis with Blue in Green.