The Kansas City Royals are trying to improve their baserunning processes, but the results still leave much to be desired.
The Royals have been caught stealing four times, however, tied with four teams for second most in MLB. The Brewers, for example, are one of those teams — but they’ve stolen 21 bases already this year.
“We’re pleased with the aggressiveness,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. “That’s a big part of being a good baserunning team. You’ve got to be aggressive. We’ve shown we’re going
first to third really well. We’ve taken an extra base here and there that maybe last year we were a little bit more reluctant to take.
“The pickoffs are something that stand out, but when you get picked off a couple times, you don’t want to swing the other way, where now we’re not going to look to run. So you’re going to make some mistakes when you look to steal bases, and you really just have to learn from it.”
Hopefully, the Royals can find a way to win on Wednesday and keep up the mojo David Lesky brought up in yesterday’s newsletter.
Look, they may drop the next two and they’re on a path to a similar result to what we’ve seen so often in the last decade. But it’s interesting to note that the last two winning seasons they’ve had in Cleveland in normal years are 2015 and 2024, both playoff seasons. Last night’s win required the bats to wake up and continue to find ways to score, but the story was Michael Wacha.
Barefoot in freezing temperatures is a flex, and it must have helped Royals pitcher Noah Cameron ahead of his start on Tuesday.
Regarding the weather, he wanted to get a true feel for it. So he walked barefoot on the field before game time, looking for an accurate read on what he’d be dealing with as he sought to break some bats and induce weak contact from Cleveland’s lineup. “I was just feeling the weather a little bit,” he said. “I walked out and obviously the sun was nice. I don’t know, I was just feeling the weather and getting acclimated to it. And it was good.” Cameron is no stranger to cold weather. The St. Joseph, Missouri native knows all about near-freezing temperatures during the winter months.
For all the issues with only one hit against the Guardians, it took late-inning heroics to down the Royals on Tuesday.
To his credit, Jensen made up for the strikeout defensively. He made a successful ABS challenge to record a Kyle Manzardo strikeout in the eighth. The overturned call got the Royals out of the inning and kept the score at 1-1. That was … until Rocchio hit a walk-off single to win the game in the ninth. The Royals dropped to 5-6 and will look to win the series on Wednesday. “I’m not worried about (Schreiber) at all,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “I mean, we’re going to use him in high leverage. He’s going to pitch against righties and lefties. You know, this team is always challenging with the matchups, but we have a ton of confidence in him.”
What is Trey Donovan’s conclusion on Royals outfielder Kyle Isbel’s red-hot start?
So, to sum up the hot start, Isbel is hitting the ball harder, hitting fastballs, the expected numbers look good, and he still doesn’t whiff or chase a ton. Throw in that he has a 41% squared-up rate, meaning on 41% of his swings, he is attaining at least 80% of the perceived max velocity on the ball. (For more info, here is MLB’s definition of squared-up%). He is also stealing bases at a career-best pace with four stolen bases already, as his career high is 11 swiped bags.
Now, for the negatives in Isbel’s game. As this was written during the 4/7 Guardians game, Isbel didn’t have a walk until this game. Now he has two on the year, but that has never been a core part of his game. His LA-sweet spot% is abysmally low at 21.7% and is concerning, despite again it being his norm. The last thing that will probably be the main case for regression to the mean is Isbel’s .500 BABIP to start the year.
Royals prospect Ben Kudrna lands on the IL with Triple-A Omaha.
A tip of the cap to Royals social media admins, reminding us why the moon is a planet.
The fate of Hawaiian Bros’ bottom line lies in the Royals’ bats.
Pete Grathoff has a stat that spells optimism for Jac Caglianone.
Please send some positivity to John Dixon’s friends and family, as well as the Arrowhead Prode team, in this trying time.
MLB launches MLB Clubhouse, a YouTube channel catered to kids, or “the next generation of baseball and softball fans.”
Bob Kravitz looks at how transfers powered Michigan’s run to a championship.
Lance Brozdowski shares his latest thoughts on starters around the league, focusing on a model favorite, Miami Marlins pitcher Janson Junk.
An image of Ismael Ureña Pérez wearing Royals blue leads the visuals of an international baseball scandal.
Ted Anthony has a unique look at the most overlooked part of baseball: the baseball itself.
The Texas Rangers wait with bated breath as ace Jacob deGrom faces another injury scare.
Chicago Cubs sophomore star Cade Horton’s season comes to an end after an elbow injury.
Pittsburgh Pirates leadership is optimistic about extending newly debuted shortstop Konnor Griffin.
The St. Louis Cardinals traded pitcher Nick Raquet to the Baltimore Orioles.
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to publish memoir ‘The Perilous Fight’ in September.
Heisman winner Fernando MEndoza will watch the upcoming NFL Draft from home.
Shaquille O’Neal is looking to build off Dunkman with a league centered around dunking.
Andrés Martinez talks about Kansas City’s important role in American soccer.
Looking for a new read this spring? Kansas City librarians and booksellers weigh in.
Today’s song of the day is Our Last Night’s cover of Opalite by Taylor Swift.
