One quick quibble regarding Witt: He needs to stop getting picked off first, esp. with Vinnie & Perez up next. What's going wrong there, you think? Blanco & Garcia aren't having that problem, so it's not scouting or coaching.
It's him being aggressive and other teams and pitchers focusing on him more. He wants to get to second to get into scoring position for Vinnie and Sal. I believe they are in the top 5 in the league with RISP.
Yes, but he's clearly not reading pitchers well since Blanco & Garcia must have the same scouting reports and see the same video that he does, yet they are not only not getting picked off but are successfully stealing. Maybe Witt's woes are just a blip in a small sample size of the past six weeks or so and I'm worrying about nothing.
I still say part of BWJ's stolen base "problem," if you can call it that, is an effort to reduce wear and tear on him as much as possible. Whether it's his idea or management's, couldn't say.
I still don’t know about that. I just can’t see them putting limitations on their star. Doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t make sense for them to tell him to play hard, but play smart. He just seems like a guy who is going to go 100% all the time.
Can we talk about your user name? My god. I’m already down the list of Baseball Craigs. Now this? I’m going to drop out of the Top 10 any day now.
I agree with Jim, Better Craig. I don’t think he’s reading pitchers well. Or the situation. JJ Picollo said a couple of years ago, the game sped up for Witt in his rookie season. I kind of get a feeling that, given everything he has under control at the moment, he’s not comfortable taking a lead or getting a jump. I also expect him to solve that problem.
It’s almost as if he’s in a stolen base slump. Not a baserunning slump as he’s still turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples. He just doesn’t look comfortable taking that lead off first. It’s his only weakness at the moment. I feel confident it will turn around. Probably soon.
Right about the time Bobby slipped into his base stealing slump he took a fast ball to the hip while at the plate. I wonder if he may have been going easy on a bruise. He looked fine yesterday however.
Just need to tread water in this stretch. Somewhere around .500 ought to keep the Royals in a playoff spot, at least. I'm not greedy; just get in the playoffs and see what happens. Although a division title would be pretty nice.
Agree. Get in the playoffs. That’s the goal. But if someone presents this team with a chance, I sure hope they can grab it. I’m just amazed we’re at this point in the season and having this kind of discussion.
I just looked back. I predicted 74. I also predicted we’d see a surprise team in the Central. I got excited about that and then realized I was talking about the Tigers.
The Guards used to really scare me; now it's the Twins. The Minnesotans seem to have the Royals' number and they tend to hit homers - with people on base. The Yanx have a mediocre home record.
Don't know much about the Phils except they seem to have lost their mojo and their offense is really
struggling. Minute Maid Park didn't scare last year's team, so it shouldn't frighten this one - except for Alvarez. That big SOB is the most frightening hitter in the AL, even scarier than Judge or Soto.
I wrote about the Twins in that first series…they looked complete. Obviously, the full season was ahead and plenty of games left and all that, but I still think they’re the eventual winners of the division.
You just hope the Phillies don’t rediscover that mojo while they’re in KC.
I agree with you on Alvarez being a fantastic—and frightening—hitter. I’d walk all three of those guys.
Hell yeah, let’s go!!! I cannot wait for this stretch run. But, it starts tonight. Let’s freaking go!!!
Agree. This is what we’ve been waiting for.
One quick quibble regarding Witt: He needs to stop getting picked off first, esp. with Vinnie & Perez up next. What's going wrong there, you think? Blanco & Garcia aren't having that problem, so it's not scouting or coaching.
It's him being aggressive and other teams and pitchers focusing on him more. He wants to get to second to get into scoring position for Vinnie and Sal. I believe they are in the top 5 in the league with RISP.
Yes, but he's clearly not reading pitchers well since Blanco & Garcia must have the same scouting reports and see the same video that he does, yet they are not only not getting picked off but are successfully stealing. Maybe Witt's woes are just a blip in a small sample size of the past six weeks or so and I'm worrying about nothing.
I still say part of BWJ's stolen base "problem," if you can call it that, is an effort to reduce wear and tear on him as much as possible. Whether it's his idea or management's, couldn't say.
I still don’t know about that. I just can’t see them putting limitations on their star. Doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t make sense for them to tell him to play hard, but play smart. He just seems like a guy who is going to go 100% all the time.
Can we talk about your user name? My god. I’m already down the list of Baseball Craigs. Now this? I’m going to drop out of the Top 10 any day now.
I agree with Jim, Better Craig. I don’t think he’s reading pitchers well. Or the situation. JJ Picollo said a couple of years ago, the game sped up for Witt in his rookie season. I kind of get a feeling that, given everything he has under control at the moment, he’s not comfortable taking a lead or getting a jump. I also expect him to solve that problem.
It’s almost as if he’s in a stolen base slump. Not a baserunning slump as he’s still turning singles into doubles and doubles into triples. He just doesn’t look comfortable taking that lead off first. It’s his only weakness at the moment. I feel confident it will turn around. Probably soon.
Right about the time Bobby slipped into his base stealing slump he took a fast ball to the hip while at the plate. I wonder if he may have been going easy on a bruise. He looked fine yesterday however.
Just need to tread water in this stretch. Somewhere around .500 ought to keep the Royals in a playoff spot, at least. I'm not greedy; just get in the playoffs and see what happens. Although a division title would be pretty nice.
Agree. Get in the playoffs. That’s the goal. But if someone presents this team with a chance, I sure hope they can grab it. I’m just amazed we’re at this point in the season and having this kind of discussion.
Right? I was thinking 75 wins and they might reach that before September.
I just looked back. I predicted 74. I also predicted we’d see a surprise team in the Central. I got excited about that and then realized I was talking about the Tigers.
The Guards used to really scare me; now it's the Twins. The Minnesotans seem to have the Royals' number and they tend to hit homers - with people on base. The Yanx have a mediocre home record.
Don't know much about the Phils except they seem to have lost their mojo and their offense is really
struggling. Minute Maid Park didn't scare last year's team, so it shouldn't frighten this one - except for Alvarez. That big SOB is the most frightening hitter in the AL, even scarier than Judge or Soto.
I wrote about the Twins in that first series…they looked complete. Obviously, the full season was ahead and plenty of games left and all that, but I still think they’re the eventual winners of the division.
You just hope the Phillies don’t rediscover that mojo while they’re in KC.
I agree with you on Alvarez being a fantastic—and frightening—hitter. I’d walk all three of those guys.