Air ball

The Royals hit a lot of popups on Sunday. Plus, notes on roster moves and an All-Star voting update.

With no Royals game on Monday, I was forced to think about what we saw in Sunday’s loss to San Diego for another 24 hours.

Just peachy. In particular, I wasn’t thinking about the bullpen implosion or the way the Royals were walked off in their loss. Nope. I was focused on something else…

Popups.

Yes, popups.

In the first inning of Sunday’s game in San Diego, Jonathan India hit a soft line drive to start the game. It was just 58 mph off the bat and hit to second baseman Jake Cronenworth. Easy out.

After Bobby Witt Jr. hit a ground ball back up the middle for a single, the next two batters, Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino, both hit popups that did not leave the infield.

The popup monster reared its head at a most inopportune time in the second inning. Salvador Perez walked to lead off the frame and with one out, Drew Waters and Freddy Fermin hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. The Royals had something cooking.

Alas, Kyle Isbel skied one. The infield fly rule was invoked, and the inning was effectively over.

That was three infield popups the first time through the order. The Royals did not stop there.

According to data at Baseball Savant, the eight popups the Royals lofted on Sunday were tied for the most popups by a team in a game this season. It has been done three other times in 2025, which is stunning to me. The Royals have also had a game this season where they popped the ball up seven times (June 10 against the Yankees). They have also hit six popups in a game twice. (March 31 against Cleveland and then on May 25 versus the Twins.)

That’s a lot of popups.

The chart below illustrates where all of the Royals popups landed on Sunday afternoon. Only Jac Caglianone’s ninth inning cloud-scraper cleared the infield dirt.

As you can guess, this popup thing has been an issue for the Royals offense this season.

Overall, 13.2 percent of all fly balls the Royals have hit have stayed on, or around, the infield. That’s the highest rate in the majors. The top five:

Royals - 13.2%
Guardians - 13.1%
Mariners - 11.9%
Rangers - 11.6%
Brewers - 11.4%

It’s not like the Royals are running away with this batted ball ignominy. The Guardians are right there with them. (Stay weird, AL Central!) The gap between second and third is larger than any other gap except for the difference between the 28th-place Orioles at 8.6 percent to the 29th-place Dodgers at 7.0 percent. Outliers abound, I guess.

In case you were wondering, the league average popup rate is 10.1%.

Like everything in baseball, not all outcomes are created equal, even if we’re throwing everything into a bucket labeled “popup.” In the May 25 game against the Twins, all six popups came while they were facing starter Bailey Ober. Ober has been something of a popup generating machine this season, with nearly 17 percent of balls hit in the air against him classified as popups. That’s the highest rate among qualified starters. Even though Ober is getting lit up this season, he’s still getting plenty of harmless batted balls in the air for some easy outs.

These were the pitches thrown by Ober that were popped up in that game.

It’s close to what I would expect. A few high four-seamers that batters were under. A couple of offspeed pitches where the batter was off balance and the barrel was dropped. The one tasty fastball in the middle was popped up by Michael Massey. I shall say no more.

Randy Vásquez, the San Diego starter on Sunday, likewise generates a lot of popups. He has the seventh-highest infield fly ball rate at FanGraphs at just under 15 percent. He’s certainly in Ober’s league.

What made the performance against Vázquez especially frustrating though was that many of the pitches the Royals lofted on the infield were located in a spot where the outcome should’ve been a bit more optimal.

The cutters, in particular, were in prime locations for hitters. The highest one was a first-pitch offering to Vinnie Pasquantino. The second-highest was a 1-0 pitch to Maikel Garcia. Then the one that is middle-middle was a 3-2 pitch to Bobby Witt, Jr. Three of the best the Royals have in their lineup, and they couldn’t do damage on those pitches.

The lowest three pitches (a change, the sweeper and the sinker), were all put into play by Kyle Isbel.

That makes three popups put into play by Isbel on Sunday. Three! They left his bat at a launch angle of 69, 70, and 71 degrees.

The combined distance of his three batted balls was 310 feet.

It’s quite something to be labeled as the worst popup offender in a game. Then again, Isbel is keeping a whopping 32 percent of his fly balls on the infield. That, um, leads the league among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances. He also has a league-high six hits via a bunt. Things have a way of levelling out I suppose.

As voting for the All-Star Game continues, Witt finds himself still in second place at shortstop. The current top five:

1. Jacob Wilson, A’s: 1,120,791

2. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals: 868,584

3. Jeremy Peña, Astros: 608,345

4. Bo Bichette, Blue Jays: 588,324

5. Trey Sweeney, Tigers: 323,042

Wilson leads all qualified shortstops with a .349 batting average. His .390 OBP is second only to J.P. Crawford (.406 OBP). His .493 slugging percentage is tied with Peña for the top mark in the AL. It’s an impressive offensive resume for the Sacramento rookie.

But if you’re looking for the complete package of offense and defense and baserunning, then Witt is your guy. He’s tied with Peña among all major league shortstops with a 3.9 fWAR. FanGraphs also rates Witt as the top defender at his position.

Look at me, trying to convince you Witt deserves the starting All-Star nod. Vote. If that’s your thing.

The Royals made a couple of organizational moves of note on Monday.

Catcher Carter Jensen, the team’s third round pick in the 2021 draft out of Park Hill High School, gets the bump to Triple-A Omaha. After finishing last season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas, hitting .233/.300/.480 with a 111 wRC+ in 170 plate apperances, he dominated in an encore performance. Through 308 PAs this season with the Naturals, Jensen is hitting .292/.360/.420 and a 120 wRC+. He’s cut his strikeout rate by about four percent, but has seen a bit of a decline as far as the power production goes. Eric Longenhagen had this to say at FanGraphs last month as they rated Jensen as the organization’s second-best prospect:

After 18 homers in 2024, Jensen is struggling to pull and lift fastballs early on this year, dooming him to a sub-.100 ISO despite a 107 mph 90th-percentile exit velocity and precociously low chase rate.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old shortstop Yandel Ricardo, the big international signing for the Royals last year, was promoted from the Arizona Complex League to A-ball Columbia. Ricardo was hitting an eye-watering .342/438/.533, good for a 152 wRC+ in the ACL. The switch hitter signed for a $2,397,500 bonus last year. Look for him to move up the prospect lists as he progresses through the system.

Also, catcher Blake Mitchell, sidelined since February as he recovers from surgery to repair a broken right hamate bone, has been sent to the ACL on a rehab assignment. Also, pitcher Kyle Wright finished his rehab stint with the Storm Chasers where he posted a 6.28 ERA over four starts, and was activated off the IL and optioned to Omaha.

Central Issues

It’s been a while since we’ve done this. Things have…changed a bit.

Mariners 11, Twins 2

The Mariners torched Twins starter Bailey Ober for seven runs in seven innings, with six of those coming in the third. Julio Rodríguez and Luke Raley each hit two-run home runs in that frame. Dominic Canzone hit a solo shot in the sixth and then the Big Dumper, Cal Raleigh, smashed his league-leading 32nd home run in the ninth as the Mariners tacked on four more runs. It’s the fourth game in a row where Raleigh has left the yard and the sixth time in six games.

Since winning 13 in a row in mid-May, Minnesota is 11-21. The Athletic reports that the Twins have picked up manager Rocco Baldeli’s option for the 2026 season.

Diamondbacks 10, White Sox 0

Josh Naylor doubled home two in the first. Pavin Smith hit a three-run home run in the second. This one was over as soon as it started. Eduardo Rodriguez and Anthony DeSclafani combined on the shutout, limiting Chicago to five hits and four walks while striking out 14. DeSclafani picked up the three-inning save for his efforts.

The White Sox have lost 10 of 12.

There was a moment where the Central was the hot baseball thing. Not so much these days. It’s the Tigers division to lose at this point.

The Royals have a 19 percent chance of reaching the postseason according to FanGraphs.

Up Next

The Tampa Bay Rays visit Kansas City this week for a three-game set. The Royals swept them in Tampa in late April, but the Rays have found their footing since then. They’ve won 13 of their last 20 and are just two games back of the Yankees in the AL East. If the season ended today, they would be in the postseason tournament as the first Wild Card.

June 24 vs. TB - RHP Taj Bradley (4-5, 4.95) vs. LHP Kris Bubic (6-4, 2.12) at 6:40 p.m.
June 25 vs. TB - RHP Drew Rasmussen (6-5, 2.61) vs. RHP Michael Wacha (4-6, 3.24) at 6:40 p.m.
June 26 vs. TB - RHP Shane Baz (7-3, 4.79) vs. RHP Michael Lorenzen (4-7, 4.81) at 1:10 p.m.