Jaylon Thompson writes about how Carlos Beltrán’s time in Kansas City began his Hall of Fame career.
The Royals offered Beltran a chance to develop at the highest level. Beltran lauded Brett and others for his ability to grow as a major league player.
“It was an incredible experience just to be able to be around George Brett,” Beltran said. “The influence that he was to me, just being able to learn from him and go to the (batting) cages with George and listening to him. Just listening to the way he approached
the game, how hard he played the game of baseball and how much he enjoyed the game of baseball. So for me, it was a great experience.”
Craig Brown reacts to Beltrán’s election.
The Beltrán game I will always remember is Opening Day 2004. As I wrote above, the Royals had high hopes for that season. Against the White Sox that afternoon, they fell behind, trailing 7-3 going into the ninth. The Royals rallied, though and on a Mendy López pinch-hit, three-run home run (yes, a Mendy López home run), they tied the game. An Ángel Berroa single brought Beltrán to the plate.
Beltrán bashed a walkoff two-run home run. In the baseball wilderness from 1986 to 2013, I believe that was the most euphoric Kauffman Stadium ever was. It was a moment I’ll never forget.
Philip Ruo at Royals Keep writes about what the Royals are getting in Isaac Collins.
As discussed in an article earlier this week, Collins is not particularly skilled against left-handed pitchers with a near-league-average wRC+ of 106. If he can keep this up, he will still improve the Royals’ outfield offensive production.
A deeper look into Collins’s pitch-tracking data shows that he does his most damage against breaking balls, with 6 of his 9 home runs last year coming off them. Despite his increase in power against breaking balls, he is particularly more likely to swing and miss against breaking balls from left-handed pitchers, with his whiff rate at 38% compared to his season average (and better than league average) whiff rate of 22.5%. If Collins can increase his batted ball rates against breaking balls from lefties, that could go a long way in improving his overall production.
Baseball America has their top 100 prospects list out with Carter Jensen at #11 and Kendry Chourio at #82. They write Chourio could be a fast riser.
The righthander blends now stuff with uncommon poise into a skill set that has helped him ascend to the top of the Royals’ system. If he does it again, he could have a case as the sport’s best pitching prospect.
Royals pitching prospect David Shields just missed the list.
Shields lasted just one start in the Arizona Complex League before earning a bump to Low-A Columbia. He thrived in the Carolina League, where he used stuff and savvy to carve hitters all summer. By season’s end, he’d earned the league’s pitcher of the year honors. He doesn’t have the kind of blow-away stuff as some of the other pitchers in the minors, but his pitchability and command should help him become a midrotation starter in a few years.
Former Royals Wade Davis, Ervin Santana, and Joakim Soria could be on next year’s Hall of Fame ballot.
Cody Bellinger returns to the Yankees on a five-year, $162.5 million deal.
The Mets get Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers from the Brewers.
They also signed reliever Luis Garcia to a one-year, $1.25 million contract.
The Angels bring back third baseman Yoán Moncada on a one-year, $4 million deal.
Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee is detained at the airport.
With Kyle Tucker joining the Dodgers, Teoscar Hernández is excited to play left field.
Chris Getz expects the White Sox to be very active after the Robert trade.
David Schoenfield at ESPN writes about why Beltrán and Andruw Jones got into Cooperstown.
David Laurila at Fangraphs writes about former Royals prospect Mason Barnett.
The Cardinals add Yadier Molina to their front office.
Yasiel Puig is in court this week on charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements to investigators
Why are whiff rates going down on fastballs?
Do NFL GMs have more power than ever?
How family infighting led the Buss family to sell the Lakers.
Meta will begin rolling out ads on Threads globally.
New York Times Games unveils its first two-player game that looks a lot like Scrabble.
Ranking Chris Pratt’s sci-fi movies.
Your song of the day is Blur with There’s No Other Way.
