Happiness is a home run

Three of them, to be exact. Which is how many it took for the Royals to finally get a win in Oakland.

As most of you know, I’m a huge fan of Freddy Fermin. By now, I’m certain some of you are, too. What’s not to like about the dude? He’s sort of a backup catcher, but with Matt Quatraro in charge, the Royals finally have someone filling out the lineup card who understands the importance of rotating Salvador Perez from behind home plate with a little more frequency. So Fermin is more like 1B to Perez’s 1A. This year, Perez has been at catcher for 361 innings. Fermin has been back there for 305.

The best part about Fermin is that he improves the team's production when he’s in the lineup. This is why he’s not really a backup, but rather that 1B option for catcher. So it says quite a bit that on a day when the Royals really needed some offensive production, Fermin wasn’t behind the plate, giving Perez a defensive spell, he was in the lineup as the designated hitter.

Take a peek at the Royals leaderboard at FanGraphs ranked by fWAR. Fermin is a comfortable third on the team at this point with 1.4 fWAR. If you choose to look at offense only, he’s also the third most productive hitter currently on the active roster as ranked by wRC+. There are only four Royals who are producing better than the league average.

Bobby Witt Jr. - 152 wRC+
Salvador Perez - 131 wRC+
Freddy Fermin - 123 wRC+
Vinnie Pasquantino - 103 wRC+

Michael Massey, who is currently rehabbing from his back injury in Omaha, has a 124 wRC+.

The point of the words above is to underscore a couple of truths about the 2024 Royals:

• Freddy Fermin is not a backup as he’s good enough to be in the lineup with frequency.

• The Royals lineup is better with Freddy Fermin in it.

Fermin, hitting fifth, led the way for the Royals yesterday, collecting three hits—two of them leaving the yard—in the 3-2 victory over the Oakland A’s.

Fermin’s first homer of the day came on a 1-0 hanging cutter from Oakland starter Mitch Spence.

This was, in baseball vernacular, a no-doubter. The way he got around on that pitch and the sound it made jumping off his bat, I was a little surprised the official Statcast measurement had it down at 398 feet. That’s just unnecessarily picking at the data. The numbers don’t matter. It was a prodigious blast.

Fermin’s second home run came in his next at bat. It was an impressive battle.

Fermin took the sinker down and in for ball one. He took the cutter on the top corner of the zone for a strike and then expanded the zone a bit too much on the slider when he swung and missed at the third pitch. Down 1-2, he then resisted back to back pitches up and out of the zone. The first a slider and the second a cutter. When Spence went to the slider for the third time, catcher Kyle McCann set his target on the inside half of the plate and up.

Interesting choice given Fermin went fishing for a slider just off the plate a few pitches earlier. Spence would need to spin this pitch right at Fermin to have it break back into the zone and hit the target. Perhaps the goal was to freeze the Royals DH into a called third strike.

Except when Spence released the ball, it was probably aimed a little more to the glove than the batter. The result was it leaked into the zone. Right into Fermin’s happy place.

That’s a textbook hanging slider. With a textbook hanging slider swing. With a textbook result.

This one traveled 391 feet and, more importantly, gave the Royals a 2-0 lead.

At 29 and in just his second full-time season as a key member of this roster, Fermin has improved every facet of his offensive game. He’s cut his strikeout rate from 21 percent last year to his current 18 percent. He’s bumped his walk rate from 5.5 percent in 2023 to seven percent this year. He’s now hitting .303/.352/.447 in 142 PAs. He’s the perfect guy for a manager like Quatraro who regularly rotates his players.

It was Fermin’s second start of the year as the designated hitter. I love it when a plan comes together.

While it’s always nice to see a player bash a pair of home runs in a tight game, it’s the superstars who ultimately make the difference.

Bobby Witt Jr. didn’t miss.

This was the coda to an eight-pitch battle to open the eighth, immediately after the A’s tied the game in the bottom of the seventh. (More on that below.)

Witt got the count to 3-2 by laying off the pitches out of the zone (except for the sweeper which was the third pitch) and fouling off the elevated cutters. It’s a testament to hanging around, not unlike the Melendez grand slam in the last homestand. This wasn’t quite the same battle, but it was still an opportunity for Witt to grind and get a read on the opposing pitcher by spoiling some good pitches. Wait him out, he’ll make a mistake. And if there’s a batter you want at the plate when a pitcher is going to serve up a mistake, it’s Witt.

There have been a lot of big hits from this team this year. Witt’s home run on Thursday that prevented a sweep at the hands of the A’s is certainly in that group. A special player who comes through in a big moment. Any team will take that. Be glad he’s a Royal.

The Royals may have stolen this win. Seth Lugo gave the team his usual quality innings, wobbling only in the seventh when, after two punchouts to open the inning, surrendered a double and home run to tie the game at two. After a walk to McCann, Quatraro went to his bullpen and James McArthur.

McArthur promptly gave up a hit to Abraham Toro, a ball down the right field line. McCann is not a speedy dude but he was sent home in an attempt to score from first. The play went Dairon Blanco to Adam Frazier to Salvador Perez. A nifty 9-4-2 play to cut down what would’ve been the lead runner. It wasn’t even close.

Things remained dicey in the eighth as McArthur allowed a leadoff walk to Max Schuemann. Schuemann was Oakland’s leadoff hitter and is something of a speed merchant. He’s topped 50 steals in the minors. With a tie game in the late innings, you know he’s looking to take advantage. McArthur knew that, too and he caught Schuemann leaning and picked him off.

Not out of the woods yet, McArthur gave up another walk and then a single before he was lifted for Angel Zerpa, who got out of danger with a ground ball out.

Zerpa then found himself in a spot of trouble in the ninth when Witt committed an error to put the leadoff runner on board. This may sound like a homer argument, but I felt the scoring was harsh. The ball wasn’t necessarily hit hard—it left the bat at 91 MPH—but it looked like it had some wicked spin. The hitter, Lawrence Butler, inside-outed a Zerpa fastball that was well inside. It was hopping away from Witt, who tried to pick it on his backhand, which was the only way he could’ve played it. Alas.

After a single put runners on second and third, Quatraro went to Chris Stratton to close out the victory. Two fly balls later, the Royals got their much-needed victory.

This bullpen can be exhausting.

Central Issues

Astros 5, White Sox 3

Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez each had three hits. Alvarez homered and drove in two. The Hapless White Sox held a 3-1 lead going into the seventh, but three Chicago relievers did their thing. Helped by a throwing error to give the Astros the lead and a bases-loaded walk just for a fun insurance run.

Mariners 3, Guardians 6

Cleveland starter Logan Allen allowed four hits and four walks over six, but limited the damage to just three runs. His counterpart, Luis Castillo surrendered a couple of home runs, one to Will Brennan and one to Andrés Giménez. Brennan added another dinger to salt the game away for the Guardians. Steven Kwan only had one hit. What’s wrong with him?

Rays 7, Twins 6 - 10 innings

This series was bananas, featuring a Twins walkoff in the first game and then two extra-inning wins by the Rays. Thursday’s game was knotted at two going into the eighth when the Rays plated a run on an Amed Rosario double. They added three more runs in the top of the ninth on a solo home run from Jose Siri and a two-run blast from Yandy Díaz. With a 6-2 scoreline going into the bottom of the ninth, I’m sure the Rays liked their chances. Then the Twins bashed a pair of homers of their own to send the game to extras. Carlos Santana hit one to leadoff the inning and then with the Twins down to their final strike, José Miranda clubbed a three-run blast. In the 10th, the Rays scored their Manfred Man on a Jonny DeLuca single. The Twins Manfred Man in their half of the inning was gunned down at third trying to tag up on a flyout to center. Ballgame. Whew.

Haven’t checked the playoff odds for a few days. Two losses in Oakland won’t help the Royals.

Things were supposed to get better in Oakland but baseball doesn’t follow a script. Their cushion may be gone, but they’re still very much in the mix. As we approach July, I didn’t think I would be writing about a team in contention for a playoff spot.