Back in action
With the start of the Cactus League season, it's time to empty the notebook on thoughts from the first four games.
When we last met, back on Friday, the Royals had yet to play a Cactus League game. Now that they have four games in the books—and three wins!—it’s a good time to take a little stock in what we’ve seen.
Zack Greinke made his 2023 spring debut on Monday and it went about as well as you would hope…or expect. He threw quickly and efficiently, needing just 22 pitches to get his six outs. He allowed one hit and whiffed Willy Adames on a curve ball in the top of the first.
Perhaps the most notable item about Greinke on Monday was that he had a PitchCom device attached to his belt so he could call his own pitches. I absolutely love this. Max Scherzer did this the other day in a Mets game and blistered through his innings. And why not? Veterans like Greinke and Scherzer are always thinking a couple of pitches ahead, aware of exactly what they’d like to do. If you’re looking to truly speed up the game, let those guys call their own pitches. I’m fairly certain we’re not going to see a catcher shake off a pitcher. Although that would be hilarious.
I figured I would be a fan of the pitch clock but now that I’ve seen it in action…I absolutely love it.
The pace of these spring training games as been delightful. Last year, the average exhibition game lasted a little over three hours. This year, the pitch clock has shaved about a half hour of the time of game. The Royals’ four games have been played in 2:33, 2:29, 2:25 and 2:44.
There have been a few hiccups, as to be expected. That’s why they debuted the system in the minors last year and are using the spring to work through the kinks and the learning curve. I’m sure there will be a game that ends in a violation at some point and that’s going to stink, but the players are going to get used to it and so will the fans.
The games I’ve watched and listened to on the radio are demanding your attention through this brisk pace. It’s like watching a game from the 1970s or 1980s on YouTube.
I really can’t wait to get to the park to experience it firsthand.
How about a few random thoughts from Monday?
Nice to see Luca Tresh collect a pair of hits, including a double off Milwaukee’s Hoby Milner in the third. Baseball America rated Tresh as the Royals’ 22nd-best prospect and hung a 45 future value grade on him. (A 45 FV means he’s a “second division” or platoon player in the majors.) I’m a bit higher on him based on his collegiate pedigree and the fact he hit .264/.352/.455 with 20 home runs in 120 games between Quad Cities and Northwest Arkansas. He’s definitely one to follow this summer.
Nicky Lopez followed Tresh’s double in the third with a walk. It was his second time reaching on a base on balls this spring. I will continue to beat this drum until my hands are callused…Lopez absolutely has to bump that walk rate to at least 10 percent. That may be a pipe dream, given he’s never done that in the majors, but damnit, he could be such a valuable player if he just could work a walk from time to time.
Josh Staumont, who looked sharp on Friday, scuffled in his outing on Monday. He opened with a four-pitch walk, recovered with a whiff on a curve in the dirt, hit a batter and walked another. From what I could tell on the radio, he was working closer to the 95 MPH than the 97 MPH that he was bringing in his first turn. Staumont was a guy who you would think would struggle with the new pitch clock. Out of 399 pitchers on Baseball Savant’s Pitch Tempo chart, Staumont ranked 390th on the time it took him to deliver a pitch with the bases empty. (Savant has an explanation that Pitch Tempo does not measure the same way as the new pitch clock. But it’s a good measurement of how slowly some of these guys used to work.) On Royals Radio, Ryan Lefebvre reported that he was delivering the pitches with generally seven or eight seconds left on the clock.
I recommend you play this with the sound UP.
In the small sample size of spring, I enjoy the fact that Franmil Reyes has two hits in five at bats with three strikeouts. That sound of bat obliterating baseball can get your attention. And Reyes is a non-roster invitee who demands your attention.
My favorite prospect, Maikel Garcia, made a start at third on Sunday.
This represents a notable wrinkle in the Royals’ plans for the spring. Previously, the team had said that this year, the third base tree was going to going to yield Hunter Dozier. It wasn’t so much that Dozier was in the mix at the position…it was basically his job to lose.
Now…the third base tree could possibly be sprouting another branch.
There are a couple of ways to look at Garcia getting time at the hot corner in the spring. One, despite my thinking that he needs more seasoning at Triple-A, he might be closer to the majors than thought. Two, the Royals decided that they aren’t all that satisfied with Dozier at the position. (And Johan Camargo is merely going to be a utility guy on this team, if he makes it out of spring.)
Like Quatraro said, you can’t be picky about where you play. But you do need to have the capability to field at another position that may not be your primary one. With the Royals committed to Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop, Garcia sliding over to third is a wrinkle that can help this team going forward.
How about a few more random notes?
Transaction info
If you’ve been consistently reading this newsletter (and why wouldn’t you?), you know Matt Quatraro and his staff are planning on having quite the revolving door in the bullpen this summer. In other words, they are looking for relievers who have minor league options so they can shuttle them as needed between the bigs and the minors. Knowing this, you’ve probably been spending plenty of time on the Royals Roster Resource page at FanGraphs and saw that both Richard Lovelady and Carlos Hernández are out of options. That wouldn’t bode well for them, although it sounds like we can expect the team to petition for an extra option year for both players.
That would mean, for the Royals’ relief corps, only Chapman and Amir Garrett are without minor league options. That will give Quatraro exactly what he’s looking for as far as bullpen flexibility.
Injury update
It wouldn’t be the first week of the exhibition season without a handful of injuries. In fact, we already have a leading candidate for off-field mishap of the season.
I’m just thinking off the top of my head here, but Chapman probably shouldn’t get that lip tattooed (literally) while it’s all stitched up. He had been scheduled to throw on Sunday in Cactus League action, but obviously did not make that appearance.
In other injury news, Rogers reports that Taylor Clarke reported “lower body soreness” after a bullpen session last week. He also has yet to appear in a Cactus League game.
Also, it’s a major bummer that Diego Hernandez will miss three to four months with a dislocated right shoulder. He’s the Royals’ 19th-rated prospect according to Baseball America and was set to most likely open the year at Double-A. Signed as an international free agent in 2017, he was added to the 40-man roster this winter as he was eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Hernandez is a plus-plus defender whose glove is major league ready.
Coming up
Go ahead and plan the first half of your week around these pitchers.
Tuesday @ Cleveland: Jordan Lyles, Max Castillo, Scott Barlow, Dylan Coleman
Wednesday @ Colorado: Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch (L), Amir Garrett (L), Carlos Hernández, Josh Taylor (L)
Thursday vs Los Angeles Angels: Mike Mayers, Amir Garrett (L), Josh Staumont, Jose Cuas, Ryan Weiss, Yefri Del Rosario
Tuesday’s game is on Bally Sports KC and 610-AM KCSP in Kansas City.
Clarke and Chapman, both noted above as dealing with early spring issues, are not scheduled to pitch in the next couple of days.
I've been making the same points about the pitch clock to total strangers online for the last 4 days, and I'm still getting all kinds of pushback from old "traditionalists" about it ruining the game. I honestly don't get it. I know the game never had a clock before, but like you said, it's making the gameplay feel like the old days they've been pining for. And now that they're getting it, all they can do is whine and say "We don't need a clock! We need less commercials!" or nonsense like that. First of all, good luck getting billionaires to leave advertising money on the table. (Though if you can figure out a way, I'll get behind it. But you're still going to have natural breaks between innings.) Second, the problem is not overall length of game, the problem is pace of play. The clock addresses that issue directly, & any change on the other is just a consequence. And I'm fine with that. We're getting the same amount of baseball we've always had (9 innings!), just a whole lot less standing around and other filler. I've also been accused of being a "demmycrat" who loves following more rules and doesn't understand a sport I've loved and watched for nearly 40 years. (And a sport, I can admit, whose entertainment value has diminished somewhat in recent years.) I'm not sure how you argue with that kind of logic, and at this point, I'm not sure why I'm still trying. Clearly, my life has taken a few wrong turns to end up at this exact point.
...and Garcia makes his case by going deep. Possibly not out at the K but a sure extra base hit.