The Kansas City Royals are playing it safe with Noah Cameron, skipping his Tuesday start and bringing Stephen Kolek back from the IL.
Cameron felt the tightness in his back after his outing last Thursday against the A’s, and it continued to feel tight as he threw on the days after that start. By Sunday, the Royals made the decision to go with Kolek for Cameron’s start on Tuesday.
“They’re like, ‘Hey, it’s too early to push it,’” Cameron said. “If it were August or September, I would be very capable
of pitching through it. Right now, just trying to be smart and see where we are. It’s feeling a lot better. I’ll be ready whenever.”
Having Kolek ready to come up to the big leagues made pushing Cameron back an easier decision. Kolek has been sidelined since late February with a left oblique strain, but he’s made four rehab starts with Omaha over the past month and posted a 2.76 ERA across 16 1/3 innings with four walks and 14 strikeouts. He’s pitched into the 70-pitch range in his past two starts there, so he’s built up for the Royals.
David Lesky paints a picture of how impressive Michael Wacha’s pitching performance was on Monday evening.
A pitching performance like the one we saw from Michael Wacha last night was simultaneously incredible and kind of boring. But when I say boring, I mean it in a good way. He just cruised all night long outside of one mistake he made in the second inning. He combined with Matt Strahm and Alex Lange to throw just 95 pitches. Pitch data can be a little wonky so I’m not going to give you any interesting stats because I can’t trust Stathead on this one, but the last time the Royals threw fewer than 100 pitches in a game where they threw all nine innings was August 11, 2016 in a 2-1 win over the White Sox. I believe it’s the 32nd time they’ve thrown nine innings in a game and thrown fewer than 100 pitches.
Royals fans react to the Royals.tv price dropping to $44.99 for the full season, after paying double that price weeks prior.
Many want to be reimbursed and others planned to wait to subscribe next year. “I paid $100 at the beginning of the year,” one fan wrote on X. “What are yall going to do for customers like me? Seems like a bad way to earn customer loyalty.” Another noted the change to the broadcast crew: “These geniuses not only took @RexHudler1 out of the booth, now they’re giving a discount, after we’ve already coughed up $100…. I hate them.” “I’ll take my $50 check whenever you want since I signed up at the beginning of the season. Thanks,” a third wrote. “Address should be on file.”
The Athletic’s latest power rankings have the Royals still on the wrong side of 20, but improving marginally thanks to their April All-Star.
April All-Star: Bobby Witt Jr.
Bobby Witt Jr.
That’s it, that’s the blurb. Kidding (mostly).
But seriously, Witt continues to be one of baseball’s must-watch talents. After a slow start (by his standards) to April, he finished the month blazing, going 18-for-54 (.333 batting average) over his final 13 games, with two homers, a triple and six doubles, a .986 OPS.
Even when he wasn’t contributing with his bat over the month’s first 14 games, he was using his legs, going 7-for-8 in stolen base opportunities.
That, plus his standout defense at short, allowed him to finish fifth in fWAR for the month (1.5)
Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller highlights a surprising strength from this Royals pitching staff.
Kansas City Royals: Shutting Down Cleanup Hitters
At an MLB-wide level, cleanup hitters are batting .245 with a .750 OPS, producing more home runs than any other spot in the lineup.
Royals pitching, however, has been lights out against that portion of the opponent’s lineup, allowing just a .252 on-base percentage that ranks best in the majors.
Starters Kris Bubic, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha all have a sub-.450 OPS against or better when dealing with the No. 4 hitter.
FanSided’s Chris Landers makes the case for either Seth Lugo or Michael Wacha joining the San Diego Padres via trade this season.
This is an either/or situation here, not a both. But if San Diego wants to build on its surprisingly strong start to this season, it’s going to need to bolster a rotation that so far has been making it work with guys like Griffin Canning, Walker Buehler and Matt Waldron behind Michael King. Hopefully Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove make it back at some point, but that’s a big if, and either Lugo or Wacha would profile nicely as a back-end innings-eater that will make full use of the pitcher-friendly confines of Petco Park.
Former Royals infielder Paul DeJong joins the Detroit Tigers organization on a minor league deal.
FanGraphs’ Ben Clemens puts the Tigers and Tarik Skubal in uncertain territory following the ace’s injury.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal speculates a massive extension for a young backstop among other MLB notes.
Do the Atlanta Braves already have their division locked up?
ESPN’s Buster Olney talks with Mike Trout about how the Los Angeles Angels star is returning to form in 2026.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is looking mortal at the plate.
Joe Posnanski pays his respects to New York Yankees broadcaster John Sterling.
Lance Brozdowski looks at MLB pitchers Aaron Nola, Davis Martin, and Payton Tolle.
Congratulations to the KCSN team on five years!
Stefon Diggs is found not guilty of assaulting his former private chef.
Ask.com, formerly known as Ask Jeeves, closes operations after 30 years on the scene.
Will AI actually create more jobs than it replaces? Sam Altman wants you to believe so.
Kansas is trying to lure new attorneys to rural areas of the state.
An Olathe resident becomes the oldest hiker to reach Mount Everest’s base camp. Congratulations to Dave McClung! Did you recently have a good moment in your life that you are proud of? Let’s celebrate it in the comments.
Today’s song of the day is Nose on the Grindstone by Tyler Childers.
