It’s been very obvious early this season that a big part of the Kansas City Royals struggles have been on the offensive side of the game. Most of the numbers speak to that fact: the Royals are last in the AL in home runs, runs, RBI’s, ISO, slugging percentage, and WAR. To use the word ‘anemic’ when speaking of the Royals hitting would be appropriate and speak volumes to a portion of the team’s poor start.
But while the team had only two players with a home run going into Tuesday’s doubleheader (Mike Moustakas and Lucas Duda have now been joined by Abraham Almonte and Alcides Escobar), there is one part of their game that should be looked at as a glimmer of hope over the coming months. In fact, it’s a statistic you would never think the team would be doing so well in:
— Sports Info Solutions (@SportsInfo_SIS) April 17, 2018
That’s right, the Royals have the second highest hard-hit rate right now in the American League going into play on Tuesday. Wouldn’t have guessed that, would you? So how is the team doing it and why has the team struggled so hard to score runs in the early going?
Credit: Associated Press
When I first saw this number it made me want to go look up the team’s batting average on balls in play. While they aren’t at the bottom of the league in BABIP, they are 11th, at .284. This would explain a bit of bad luck for Kansas City and explains the big disparity between the amount of balls that are hit hard and the low amount of runs scored.
Next, I wanted to see how often the team was hitting the ball on the ground compared to in the air or even line drives. The Royals still have a fairly high ground ball rate, 40.6%, which leaves them at 11th in the AL. But the team is also in the top five in both line drives (21.8%) and fly balls (37.6%), which is a good sign.
Credit: John Sleezer/KC Star
We’ve seen a number of shifts on the Royals this year and I personally have seen a number of pulled balls scorched off the bat right to a defender in the early part of the season (with Soler’s blast to third base on Opening Day instantly flashing in my mind). But the Royals have actually been hitting the ball to the opposite field at a nice 26.8% clip so far this year, good enough for 6th in the league. They also aren’t pulling the ball as much, just 39.5%, which is 13th in the AL.
So how much are they making contact? Looks like they are sitting at 77.1% which is actually a bit lower than I would have expected, considering this is a team that makes a lot of contact. That also means that they are swinging at a number of pitches both inside and outside of the zone: 85.7% inside of the strike zone, 62.3% outside of the zone. They are also swinging at a lot of first pitch strikes, as they sit in 5th in the American League at 60.1%. None of this should shock anyone who has watched this team over the last four years and is just a continuation of their mantra of putting the ball in play.
Credit: Associated Press
They’ve also continued their issues with runners in scoring position. The Royals are hitting .215/.321/.290 with RISP and that last number (slugging percentage) is the real death-blow. Sometimes it is just as much about when you are hitting the ball hard as how often you are pummeling it. This could definitely be a big factor into how this team is hitting the ball so hard yet have very few runs to account for.
The biggest takeaway from filtering through the numbers is that the Royals hitters are doing a number of things right and if the team can get a little bit of good luck, some warmer weather and maybe even games played on consecutive days, we could start seeing the offense improve. New hitting coach Terry Bradshaw is obviously doing some good with the hitters and it’s just a matter of time before they start climbing out of this funk.
Credit: Getty Images
This will never be a lineup that will strike fear in the hearts of pitchers but it can be a successful one. Getting Salvador Perez back will help, as will the uptick in temperatures. This team might never be one that takes a lot of walks or goes deep into the count, but if they hit the ball hard consistently while continuing to lift, the numbers will rise. Patience might be a virtue, but it can also be the key to unlocking Kansas City’s success.
As the Kansas City Royals enter the 50th year of their existence, it’s commonplace to take a deeper look into the franchise’s history and the gold and glory that comes with it. It’s easy to look at all the accomplishments and the positives that come with it. But it also can lead you down a dark tunnel, one that many refuse to even glance at.
When I saw this tweet, my brain started churning:
In honor of the home opener win today and the 162-0 season the @Pirates are about to go on, I've created the #BuccoBracket for young and old Pirates fans of decades past to pick their favorite mediocre player from 1993-2012. (See process below) pic.twitter.com/ekwtgzApbt
Now, this is obviously a bracket for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it tossed a question into my brain: who is the most mediocre player in Royals history? Has anyone really delved into that? Or has anyone even been brave enough to jaunt down that rabbit hole?
We could do a list of the best Royals of all-time, but we can answer that without even looking up any stats: George Brett is the greatest hitter and Kevin Appier is the best pitcher. See, simple enough?
Credit: Getty Images
We could even do a worst of all-time, but we all know that is Neifi Perez. Hey, the numbers might not back this up but I find it hard to believe that much of anyone will argue with Neifi being the choice. Sure, Dee Brown has less fWAR (-4.1 to Neifi’s -3.2) but Neifi was like that family member that just shows up on your doorstep and invites themselves to stay for a month. Then they just crash on your couch, watching reruns of ‘Family Guy’ the entire time. Sorry about the tangent but you get the point. When the only Royals player Sung Woo Lee has ever disliked is you, you are officially the worst. So Neifi, you officially get that honor. Congrats, I guess.
But what about mediocre? That doesn’t mean you are good or bad. It means you are…just there. Ordinary, average, middle of the road, run of the mill, pedestrian and probably forgettable. There have been a number of forgettable names that have put on a Royals jersey over the years, but it takes a special kind to be mediocre.
So when I decided to take this challenge, I needed to decide on my criteria. Initially I thought of making a bracket, if for no reason then so I could toss in a Jeff Reboulet here or a Dave Wickersham there (I’m not joking when I say that is not a made up name. Totally real).
Instead I decided to go with players who have a career 0.0 fWAR during their entire tenure in Kansas City. Nothing says ‘mediocre’ like a middle of the road number like 0.0. I thought about using wRC+ for batters and ERA+ for pitchers, but that wouldn’t deliver the true scope of mediocrity that I am looking for.
Since there was a decent amount of players who actually achieved this wearing the royal blue, I then went ahead and broke it down according to those batters with the most plate appearances and pitchers with the most innings while accomplishing 0.0 WAR. So let’s start first with the pitchers:
#3- Don Hood
Hood comes in third place for this ‘race of the mediocre’ as he pitched 114.1 innings as a Royal, with a respectable 2.99 ERA, 4.31 FIP, 3.78 K’s per 9, 2.83 BB’s per 9 in 57 games for Kansas City. Honestly, the only reason I even remember Hood is because I have his baseball card. He pitched for the Royals during his last two big league seasons, 1982 and 1983, while primarily pitching out of the pen.
Not only was Hood’s ERA pretty good, but he also posted an ERA+ of 137. So he actually was a decent contributor for the team but alas had a 0.0 fWAR, which left him on this list. Just for posterity’s sake, he did put up 1.2 bWAR, so Baseball Reference does rate him a bit higher.
Hood might actually be a decent representation of forgettable, as I would bet it would be hard to conjure up many Kansas City fans who remember Hood’s time with the team.
Credit: Stephen Dunn
#2- Blake Wood
Wood is a more recent contributor to the ‘House of Mediocre’, as he pitched for the Royals during the 2010-2011 campaigns, his first two seasons in the majors. Wood compiled an ERA of 4.30, 4.15 FIP, 7.01 K’s per 9 and an ERA+ of 97 over 119.1 innings.
Amazingly, Wood appeared in 106 games during that two year span and while Fangraphs has his WAR at 0.0, Baseball Reference once again has it a tad higher, at 0.9. Maybe the funniest part about this entire test is that Wood continues to be pretty pedestrian, putting up a career ERA+ of 95 (slightly below average) and an fWAR & bWAR of 1.0 over seven seasons. It’s easy to see now that Wood is a great fit as a mediocre former Royal.
Credit: Barry Taylor Photography
#1- Jorge De La Rosa
The most mediocre Royals pitcher of all-time is someone who has been around forever and I’m sure a few of you don’t even remember his time in Kansas City. De La Rosa spent a part of the 2006 season in Kansas City after being acquired from Milwaukee (for Tony Graffanino) and would also spend 2007 in a Royals uniform. Over 178.2 innings, he would compile a 5.64 ERA, 5.57 FIP, 5.94 K’s per 9, and an ERA+ of 82.
Like the other two, his Baseball Reference WAR skews a bit higher (0.2) and it does feel important to remember that De La Rosa spent his first full season in the big leagues with the Royals in 2007. Since then, he has gone on to pitch 11 more seasons in the majors (15 overall) and is currently pitching for the Diamondbacks.
Maybe the best part of this project is seeing how these players have turned out and De La Rosa has continued down a path of mediocrity. De La Rosa’s career ERA+ is 99 and has accumulated 14.6 fWAR over 14 seasons, or a shade over 1.0 wins above replacement per season. De La Rosa proves that while being average could appear bad to some, it can also lead to stability in Major League Baseball.
Alright, so there are the mediocre pitchers, so now we shift over to the hitters.
#3- Butch Davis
I’m just going to be honest: I don’t remember Butch Davis. Davis was an outfielder that played in Kansas City from 1983 to 1984. In those two years, Davis made it to the plate 258 times, posting a line of .248/.285/.370Â with 4 home runs and 30 RBI’s.
The weird part is that Davis actually had a really solid rookie year in 1983, as he hit .344/.359/.508 with a wRC+ of 135 over 130 plate appearances. Davis would plummet in ’84 though, hitting just .147/.211/.224 in 128 plate appearances.
Combined, this led to a wRC+ of 79, a fWAR of 0.0 and a bWAR of 0.2. Pretty average numbers for a player who ends up as the third most mediocre hitter in Royals history.
#2- Rudy Law
I do remember Rudy Law, as he was signed by Kansas City after the 1985 season to play in the outfield. In fact, Law was actually a pretty good player for the White Sox during the 1982 and 1983 seasons, almost even posting a 3 win season in ’83.
Law would appear in 86 games for the Royals in 1986, with 341 plate appearances. He would hit .261/.327/.388 with one home run and 36 RBI’s. He would also post a wRC+ of 95 (pretty average), which was actually on par with his 1983 season.
The biggest difference for Law appeared to be on defense in Kansas City, as his dWAR fell to -0.9 after being around average the previous few seasons. This led to the 0.0 fWAR and a 0.5 bWAR. While I do remember Rudy’s time in Kansas City, it’s easy to see how you could forget his short stay there as well.
Credit: Barry Taylor Photography
#1- Brent Mayne
All of this middle of the road talent has led us to this, the guy who not only is the #1 most mediocre position player in Royals history, but the overall #1…and it isn’t even close. It only makes sense that the most run of the mill Royals player would be a guy that the team drafted in the 1st round back in 1989.
Brent Mayne would pull multiple tours of duty for Kansas City (1990-1995 and 2001-2003) and just looking at the numbers show how pedestrian he really was. Mayne would hit .244/.305/.322 with 20 home runs and 205 RBI’s in a Royals uniform. The honest truth was that Mayne was more wildly known for his defense than his offense, which also explains the career wRC+ of 74 and a 63 for his tenure in Kansas City.
So why does Mayne stack above everyone else? Most of the other players on this list had very brief careers as a Royal whereas Mayne would play nine seasons for our boys in blue. He would rack up 2200 plate appearances over 664 career games for Kansas City and no player on this list can even come close to those numbers while also posting pure mediocrity.
In those nine seasons, Mayne would have only four seasons with a fWAR above 0.0 and in 2002 he actually finished the season at 0.0! You’ve probably also noticed that throughout this experiment most of the players would put up a better WAR according to Baseball Reference than Fangraphs.
So in an ironic twist, it appears that Mayne’s fWAR (0.0) is actually higher than it is on Baseball Reference (-1.2). This obviously is because of how each site factors their wins above replacement, but it does show how Mayne’s value can shift according to what you are looking for.
If you watched the Royals during what I like to refer to as ‘The Lean Years”, you probably saw Brent Mayne play and you are probably completely agreeing with him ending up at the top of this list. The funny part is that while I am poking a bit of fun toward a list of mediocrity, Mayne is more proof that being average can actually be a strength. Mayne ended up with a 15 year career, got to appear in the playoffs in 2004 and racked up over $13 million dollars in his career. All in all, that speaks of a very blessed career for Mr. Mayne.
Barry Taylor Photography
So there you go, the most mediocre players in Royals history. Now it’s your turn: who do you think should be the most mediocre? Who was your favorite mediocre player? Would you go by a different point of reference to determine an average player? Maybe break it down to decades? Let us know who you feel is an all-time mediocre Royal.
The other day Matthew LaMar wrote about Hunter Dozier and the unwillingness of the Kansas City Royals to give him an opportunity when a spot has become available on the roster. Matthew wrote up a number of reasons why the team might have passed him over and some of them might carry some weight, especially among those in the Royals front office or even their scouting department.
But Dozier is not the first prospect in the Kansas City farm system to be passed over despite not having anyone of actual value holding them back. In fact, over the years the team has found a way to not see what they have with their younger talent. There for a long time, the Royals were infamous for bypassing younger players for older ones with more big league experience.
Justin Huber was one of the first names to pop in my mind when I thought of players not given a chance to perform. Huber was a highly touted prospect in the New York Mets system when they traded him to the Royals before the 2004 trade deadline for…Jose Bautista. Huber was initially a catcher, but after the trade he tore cartilage in his left knee and underwent surgery that would end his career behind the dish. The Royals would move him to first base and eventually shift him to the outfield later in his career.
Huber consistently was slugging in the .450-.475 range for most of his minor league years in New York and during his first season in the Kansas City organization hit .326/.417/.560 over 527 plate appearances. He would get a slight audition with the major league club that year, playing in 25 games while hitting just .218/.271/.256Â over 85 plate appearances.
He would end up back in Omaha to start 2006 but would end up only getting 11 plate appearances that year. I specifically remember the team recalling him in May of that year for a series against Minnesota and he would only get one at bat, a pinch-hitting appearance on May 3rd.
At the time the Royals had Doug Mientkiewicz at first base and while he was a good hitter with a great glove, he also was in his age 32 season and was a one year solution at first. In layman’s terms, no one of major value was blocking Huber from getting playing time. Alas it was not to be, as Huber would play eight more games for the Royals in 2007 before being traded to San Diego in March of 2008.
Credit: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Speaking of first baseman, Kila Ka’aihue is another player who the Royals dragged their feet on. Ka’aihue put up a monster year in 2008, hitting .314/.456/.628 with 37 home runs and 100 RBI’s while splitting time in AA and AAA. The Royals gave him 24 plate appearances that September and he looked to at least be an option in 2009.
Instead, Ka’aihue would spend the entire 2009 season in Omaha, hitting .252/.392/.433 with 17 home runs and 57 RBI’s. Meanwhile, the Royals had a 1B/DH combo of Billy Butler and…Mike Jacobs. Jacobs was awful during his only season in Kansas City, hitting .228/.297/.401 with an OPS+ of 84. He would be released by Kansas City in December of that year.
Ka’aihue would get a bit of a chance in May of the following year, as he was recalled to Kansas City but would still see the majority of his playing time in Omaha. He finished the 2010 season on a bit of a hot streak with 8 home runs and 25 RBI’s.
But we knew what would happen next. Eric Hosmer was on the horizon and with Billy Butler firmly entrenched at DH, that left Ka’aihue without a spot. He would end his Kansas City career with only 326 plate appearances in a four-year span, hitting .216/.309/.375.
Finally, there is the tale of Johnny Giavotella. Giavotella moved quickly through the Kansas City farm system and by the end of 2011 had posted wRC+ seasons of 123, 108, 139 and 118 and was easily the best second base prospect in the organization.
Giavotella was recalled in August of 2011 and two days after would hit his first major league home run off of Max Scherzer. Gio would spend the last two months in Kansas City, hitting .247/.273/.376 with a wRC+ of 72. He would spend 2012 bouncing back and forth between AAA and the majors, compiling 189 plate appearances and a wRC+ of 55.
At the time, “Mistake Free” Chris Getz was the Royals second baseman and while he was decent on defense, he was below average with the bat. The Royals liked Getz’s glove and Giavotella’s defense obviously hurt him in the Royals’ eyes. The fact he hadn’t hit during his short trials probably didn’t help matters either.
By the end of 2014 he was designated for assignment and would end his Royals career getting 465 plate appearances (over four years), hitting .238/.277/.334 and an OPS+ of 67. It always felt like Johnny was never given a prolonged look at the position to truly see what he was capable of and the question was always what would happen if he was just told to go out there and play on a day-to-day basis.
That is the issue with all of these players and what appears could happen to Dozier. None of the names I mentioned above were ever really truly given a chance to get comfortable and play on a consistent basis in Kansas City. The chances they were given were sporadic at best and it was frustrating to watch replacement level veterans filling spots on a number of Royals teams that, to be honest, just weren’t going anywhere.
That is the point of this whole thing. I’m not saying that Ka’aihue, Giavotella or Huber (or even someone like Jose Martinez years later) would have been top shelf offensive stars and would plant themselves in the Royals lineups for years and years. For all we know they would have produced exactly like they did in their short time with the team.
Credit: MLB.com
But they should have been given the chance to see what they could do, especially since no one was blocking them. We saw Hosmer and Mike Moustakas struggle for years to reach a level of success in the big leagues and the organization allowed them that time to figure it out on a yearly basis.
The players mentioned weren’t afforded that same chance and because of that we are forever left with questions with what could have been. The Royals have an opportunity over the next couple of years to give a number of players the chance to prove their worth and the time to let them fail and pick themselves back up. Sure, not every prospect is going to succeed and a number of them won’t be keepers. But you never know unless you give them the opportunity.
Not allowing someone like Dozier or even someone like Ryan O’Hearn an opportunity after all the time that has been invested in them feels like a loss of resources. At least find out what these guys can and can’t do; if the Royals want to cut bait after that then they are perfectly within their rights. But don’t leave questions left unanswered.
Here we are, the middle of April and I’m sure a number of you are already frustrated with the Kansas City Royals. I mean, the bullpen has been a dumpster fire, the offense feels anemic and it’s just been a struggle to play games on consecutive days. Luckily, there is another way to enjoy Royals baseball this summer without watching the big league club.
For those of us longtime fans, we spent a number of the ‘Lean Years’ paying attention to the Royals minor league teams and keeping track of what the top prospects were up to. It was a way to keep an eye on the future while figuring out if these players fit in to what Kansas City needed.
Credit: Minda Haas Kuhlmann
So doing this can be daunting for a newcomer to Royals baseball or just for someone who has only ever focused on the major league squad. To help you out on this journey, I’m going to pass along some links and websites to keep track of so you can follow the progression of the Royals of tomorrow.
Let’s start with the Royals AAA affiliate, the Omaha Storm Chasers. To keep tabs on the team you just need to go to their website where you will get daily updates, schedules, statistics and more. You can also follow them on twitter or instagram. Top prospects currently on the Storm Chasers roster include Hunter Dozier, Richard Lovelady and Trevor Oaks. Since Omaha is the Royals top rung of the minor league system, they are a good source of seeing players who could be on the main roster sooner rather than later.
Credit: ArkansasOnline.com
Going down the line, there is the Kansas City’s AA team, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. You can check out their official site for daily updates and the regular updates on Twitter. The team right now houses prospects like Foster Griffin, Samir Duenez and Donnie Dewees. The Royals occasionally promote players from AA but not as often as they used to, as many will receive a little bit of time in AAA before their promotion to the big leagues. The Naturals are also the team that current Royals bullpen coach Vance Wilson was managing for the last couple of seasons. I mention Wilson, since I’ve long believed he is a future Royals manager in waiting, which is relevant since Ned Yost’s contract runs out at the end of the year.
Credit: Ken Inness/MiLB.com
Sliding down to High A ball, where we check in on the Royals affiliate, the Wilmington Blue Rocks. You can check out their main page and follow them on Twitter. Their roster has a nice array of prospects like Gerson Garabito, Chase Vallot, and top prospect Khalil Lee. The team will probably see a plethora of other top prospects recalled to their squad this year, since a number of the team’s top talent is in the lower section of the farm system.
Credit: Brian McLeod/MiLB.com
Finally, there is the Royals Class A team, the Lexington Legends. Once again, they have their official minor league site and Twitter to follow. The team has a number of the Royals top shelf prospects, like last year’s number one draft pick Nick Pratto, MJ Melendez and Seuly Matias. The players at this level are names you should be keeping tabs on and watching their progress, as they could be a big part of the major league team’s future. While the Royals are ranked as having one of the worst farm systems in baseball, the players at this level could start to turn the tide and we could start seeing results from them as early as this year.
Credit: Clinton Riddle, SB Nation/Vox Media
If that isn’t enough to wet your appetite, there are a number of other sources of where you can get good analysis on players to keep an eye on. Clint Scoles does great work over at Baseball Prospectus Kansas City and you can follow him on the Twitter machine. There is also the Royals Farm Report, which does a thorough job of covering all aspects of the Royals farm system, whether on their site or on social media.
Credit: Minda Haas Kuhlmann
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the great work that Minda Haas Kuhlmann does, especially covering the Storm Chasers. You might have noticed that she took a number of the photos you see in this article and writes a weekly feature over at Royals Review. The feature is called “This Week in the Minors” and is a good way to keep up to date with what is going on with the organization on a weekly basis. Minda is a great writer and I highly suggest you check out her work, as it is always top notch.
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Meanwhile, I will occasionally write about some of the up and comers here at bleedingroyalblue.com. One of the fun aspects of being a baseball fan is keeping track of the players who are on the way and I’ve always enjoyed writing about them on this blog.
So that should get you started on following the Royals minor league system and help educate yourself about ‘who is next’. Just remember that while the major league team will probably struggle most of this 2018 season, they won’t lose forever. The odds always come around at some point and the Royals will be a contender again. When that happens, you will already have an idea who will be a part of the “Royal Resurgence”.
We are not even ten games into the Kansas City Royals season and already the injury bug has befallen the team. Jesse Hahn was the first to end up on the disabled list, followed by Adalberto Mondesi, Bubba Starling, and Nate Karns. Salvador Perez ended up down for the count on Opening Day eve, and you can now add left fielder Alex Gordon to the list.
Credit: Associated Press
Gordon went on the 10-day DL on Tuesday with a left hip labral tear. This isn’t the first time that Gordon has dealt with hip issues, as he had surgery on his right hip labrum back in 2009. There was also the groin injury back in 2015 that caused him to miss two months out of the season. The good news is that the current injury shouldn’t keep him sidelined for long:
Gordon has a left hip labral tear. Ned Yost says it could be 10 days to two weeks. They’ll re-evaluate in five days or so. In the meantime, Abraham Almonte could play some center.
Gordon has been like many in the Kansas City offense, as he has gotten off to a slow start in his seven games played. Gordon is hitting .174/.208/.217 so far with a blank slate on both home runs and RBI’s but there is a slight positive so far. Gordon has seen an increase in his hard hit rate, as it is currently sitting at 41.2%, compared to the 29.2% he posted last year. Now, this is the smallest of sample sizes, but there have already been a number of balls hit by Gordon that were right at someone, many times in a shift.
While the injury doesn’t appear to be a severe one, it does make you question whether or not age is just catching up to him. Gordon is in his age 34 season and it has felt like he has been hit with one injury after another these last few seasons, one possible explanation to the regression that we have been witnessed to. As more and more time goes on, it has felt like the Alex Gordon we love started fading in July of 2015 and by the time his contract ends he’ll be just a shell of his former self. I hope that isn’t the case, but age and injuries can be a lethal tandem for a player trying to return to past glory.
The other major injury was the one suffered by Salvador Perez right before the season kicked off. Perez suffered a MCL tear from the oddest of odd reasons: slipping while carrying his luggage. The good news is that while initially Perez was slated to return in 4-6 weeks, that timetable might have been pushed up:
Royals catcher Salvador Perez’s return seems closer to four weeks than six weeks. Can get into his squat with less tightness in that left knee.
The Royals have been getting by with Drew Butera and Cam Gallagher behind the dish, but neither provide the kind of offense that Perez racks up on a yearly basis. With the offense in a bit of a funk, the news of Perez’s return should be a boost to a team needing a kick in the pants.
Credit: Ed Zurga/Getty Images
The reality is that the current Royals roster is just not equipped with the proper depth needed to sustain injuries to veterans like Gordon and Perez. In year’s past the team has had players ready to step up in for a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ situation. Gordon’s injury would have been the perfect time for Bubba Starling to get some major league playing time, but alas he is on the disabled list as well. Instead, the Royals are forced to give playing time to guys like Paulo Orlando and Abraham Almonte and hope the DL stays are kept to a minimum. If not, the season could drag on even worse than first expected. The ship isn’t out-and-out sinking, but it is starting to take on some water.
Over the last two months of the 2017 season, there was no starting pitcher more reliable for the Kansas City Royals than Jake Junis. Junis was able to rebound from a lackluster first few months of the season (5.50 ERA, giving up 41 hits over 36 innings and a slugging percentage against of .521) to becoming the “Go To” guy when the Royals need to end a losing streak:
Jake Junis has started following a #Royals loss 9 times in his career. KC is now 7-2 in those games & Junis has posted a 3.21 in those starts. #Stopper
So with that in mind, the question needs to be posed: Can Jake Junis continue the trend he is on and if he does, where does that put his status in the Kansas City rotation?
I mentioned Junis’ last two months of last season and in a lot of ways the numbers just speak for themselves: 62.1 innings pitched, 50 strike outs, only nine walks and an ERA of 3.61. To stretch that a bit further, he went from allowing a slugging percentage of .521 those first four months of the season to a .392 percentage in August and September. So what changed during his sabbatical to the minors in July?
The most noticeable difference sits with his pitch usage. Junis went from using his four seamer and slider the most to making the sinker a lethal part of his repertoire:
Junis went from using his sinker 7% of the time in June to 20% in August. He also saw a drastic drop in his batting average against the sinker in August, as he went from hitters batting .500 against the pitch to a paltry .136:
Obviously, that also meant the slugging percentage against the sinker took a nosedive:
This also appeared to help his slider, which saw a higher percentage of whiffs per swing:
This might just be a hunch on my part, but it appeared that Junis changed the line of sight for the hitter and focused more on the vertical location than the horizontal:
Essentially Junis gave the batter another weapon in his arsenal to worry about and the sinker also helped induce more ground balls, which is always better than allowing the batter to put the ball in the air. It was a smart move by Junis that garnered positive results.
Credit: Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire
Those positive results crept into Spring Training, as Junis struck out 20 batters in 14 innings while walking only one batter. He has even continued that into the beginning of the regular season, as he was able to pitch seven strong innings against Detroit on Tuesday, giving up no runs while allowing three hits and one walk.
Junis’ ability to mix up his pitches has become a focal point of his arsenal and if he continues to do so he should be able to maintain his recent success. While his slider will get most of the glory and is the pitch with the most movement, it isn’t quite as lethal without a nice array of other pitches to set it up.
Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
He appears to have figured that out and has turned himself into a legit big league starter. The Royals at this point need as many quality starts as possible and Junis’ consistency could go a long way toward solidifying a good rotation.
So if the question is whether or not Junis is for real, in my eyes it appears he is. Maybe the question to ask now is whether he should be in the front half of the rotation rather than the back half. His development over the last year has shown a proclivity to survive and strive. So what do you think-is Junis a keeper or is the jury still out?
With the Royals just a few days away from kicking off this 2018 campaign, I thought it would be good to throw out some predictions. But not the normal sort of predictions. No, I traveled down a different road.
So here are your 2018 Royals fake predictions. I’ve done these in the past and they were wildly popular. These are all jokes, so please don’t take any of this too seriously. They are just meant as amusement as we get ready to kick off the new season. So without further ado, here are your ‘Fake Royals Predictions’!
Credit:Associated Press
After a near-death experience in the offseason, manager Ned Yost has grown a greater appreciation for the men and women of the media that he interacts with on a regular basis. Rather than snarky sound bites and short, abrupt answers, Ned gives the media answers with heartfelt, thought provoking feeling and life affirming positivity. Then they have a group hug when the session is over.
On Opening Day, Lucas Duda will make his official Royals debut…and will be awarded a 2015 World Championship ring.
With Lorenzo Cain off to Milwaukee, Salvador Perez is in need of a new best friend that he can harass and shoot instagram videos of. Luckily, that honor has been bestowed onto Jon Jay. Unbeknownst to Jay, he agreed to it when he signed his contract, as it was slipped in there thanks to some sneaky maneuvering by Salvy.
Alex Gordon’s offensive struggles continue as the season begins, forcing him to try everything in the book to get out of this two-year funk. Gordon even resorts to eating junk food, which actually does improve his production…at first.
After appearing in all 162 games for three of the last four seasons, Alcides Escobar goes to Ned Yost 25 games into the season and asks for a day off because he is tired. Escobar falls asleep and awakens the last week of September, missing almost the entire season.
After giving up a dozen home runs, Ian Kennedy finally decides to become a different pitcher, one who focuses on ground balls. He then goes from giving up long bombs to inside the park home runs, still leading the league in home runs allowed.
Credit: John Sleezer/KC Star
A number of Royals fans attempt to play ‘Rex Bingo’ (a game my family created last year) during a lazy May afternoon game but everyone hits bingo by the second inning. All the mentions of ‘hands’ and ‘sneaking cheese by a hungry rat’ seems to have caused their boards to fill up super fast.
Jason Hammel asks to be moved to the bullpen and puts up good numbers through the first half. Come to find out after the All-Star break that Hammel and Luke Hochevar had a ‘Parent Trap’ moment and it was Luke all along these last two seasons.
In Whit Merrifield’s never-ending quest to ‘beef up’, he increases his protein intake and starts adding even more muscle mass to his frame. Whit sees a spike in his home runs yet again, but on the diamond he becomes a defensive liability. Think Daniel Murphy crossed with Alberto Callaspo at second base.
Steve Physioc realizes that the notes he is given before each game are to be used to help him during the broadcast. Not only does he start sounding like a competent announcer, he also receives less glares from Denny Matthews.
Danny Duffy stays healthy.
The Royals swap out one debonair first base coach for another, as Mitch Maier takes over for Rusty Kuntz. While many will miss Rusty, it doesn’t take long for the fans to warm up to the former Royals outfielder. A petition is started and Maier will get his own bobblehead night in 2019.
While trying to forget a rough 2017, Kelvin Herrera decides to add an eephus pitch to his repertoire. Herrera finds success again, but it kills the Royals time of game. The pace of play Gods are angered.
Richard Lovelady tires of all the talk of his name and little discussion on his actual statistics. This leads him to change his name to something very bland and vanilla. You can now legally call him ‘Tim Collins’.
As the Royals attempt to stay as ‘pure’ as humanly possible, they start attending workshops over the summer discussing the ill effects of watching cartoon animals who don’t wear pants.
Mike Moustakas was only able to land a $6.5 million deal this winter to return to Kansas City. The cut in pay has made it harder on Moose, as he no longer can afford his Stouffer Fit Kitchen Meals.
Brian Flynn will not fall through a barn…at least not for the first month of the season. All bets off after that.
Jorge Soler will hit the ball so hard this year that he will actually knock the cover off the ball. Also, Soler will swing and miss so hard that he will knock the cover off the ball.
and finally, the Royals will replace hitting coach Terry Bradshaw in May as the offense struggles. He will be replaced with former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw. Somehow, the offense will become the best in the league.
Credit: John Sleezer/KC Star
So there you go, my 2018 fake Royals predictions. Hopefully you took them as they meant to be, which is all in jest. I will seriously crack up laughing if even one of these come true. I’m sure there is one or two I missed. So what fake predictions do you have for the upcoming season? What would amuse you if it happened to the Royals in 2018?
Bleeding Royal Blue 