Royals look sharp, fall flat
A sweep at the hands of the Yankees is not how you want to spend your weekend. But those City Connect uniforms made the losing easy on the eyes.
It’s kind of weird when you’re watching the hometown nine drop three games in a row at home, but it doesn’t bother you all that much because they look so damn good. This is where the Royals are now after losing all three games to the New York Yankees over the weekend. They’ve lost eight of 10, but never have they ever looked so good in losing as they did on Saturday and Sunday.
No, it’s not that the games were competitive. Although Sunday’s was…Briefly. Rather it was the City Connect threads the Royals wore on Saturday and Sunday. We had obviously seen the photos from the release earlier in the week, but still, on the field those uniforms were stunning. The dark blue with the white and powder blue trim on the sleeves. The crown incorporated with the fountain motif…These uniforms were absolutely amazing.
I’ve said on numerous occasions that I’m not a uniform guy. Honestly, the variations of caps and jerseys are just kind of lame for the most part, a cash grab by the merchandising arm of Major League Baseball. Just give me home whites and road greys and I’m fine. But goodness…these City Connect jerseys are finally something I can fully support as an alternate uniform that is unbelievably cool. I know the Royals plan to wear them a few more times during the season, but damn if these don’t need to go in extremely regular rotation.
So what does it say that we’re three paragraphs in and most of this edition is about clothes? Yeah, it was that kind of weekend.
But at least they looked good!
MJ Melendez gets the call
After the game on Sunday, the Royals revealed backup catcher Cam Gallagher suffered a grade 2 hamstring strain and would hit the IL. The corresponding move was the recall of the Royals’ number two overall prospect MJ Melendez. By the numbers, Melendez has scuffled to open the season in Triple-A, hitting .167/.286/.295 in 78 at bats. The good news is, his improved strikeout rate we first saw in 2021 is still present. It looks as though, with a .202 BABIP, he’s been hitting into a bit of hard luck. Although his ground ball rate is up a bit while his line drive rate has dropped. Still, small sample and all that.
The question about Melendez remains the same as it has been for awhile. With Salvador Perez getting the lion’s share of action behind the dish, what will Melendez’s role be on this roster? You don’t call up one of the top prospects in baseball unless you’re going to regularly write his name on the lineup card. It would be baseball malpractice if Melendez isn’t in the lineup on a regular basis.
I suppose the plan will be for Melendez to get some at bats as the designated hitter, while rotating behind the plate for Perez. As you know, Perez is getting around a quarter of his time as the designated hitter himself, so maybe going forward this is a rotation of sorts between the two. What then, of Hunter Dozier? Dozier is off to a decent start at the plate when it comes to hitting for power. Overall, he has a 108 wRC+ with a .239/.271/.444 on the back of three doubles and three home runs. I would assume he isn’t going anywhere. Except first base, that is. Which means that we’ve likely seen the end of Carlos Santana as a regular.
You hate to see Gallagher go down with an injury, but it’s exciting times with Melendez coming up. The pipeline is fully open, with more to come. The future is now.
Apple TV+ and a big minus in the run differential column
The Royals made their debut on Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV+. I hadn’t watched the stream since their first game of the season. The production shows some promise, but it can frustrate at times. The three-person booth of Melanie Newman, Chris Young and Hannah Keyser don’t have the chemistry yet that would truly make this broadcast excel. There were just too many parts of the evening that were…odd. It seems like the mandate from Apple is to have a non-traditional type of broadcast with more general chatter than analysis and I’m not certain it’s working. Also, I’m generally not a fan of the three-person booth. Mix in the sideline reporter and there are just too many people jostling for airtime.
As you would expect from Apple, the production value is strong. The graphics are nice, presented in the San Francisco font, and the picture is stellar. I’m not a fan of the probabilities that they supered on the lower right of the screen, such as “Reach Base Probability” or “RBI Probability.” I’m a numbers guy and this just seems like overkill to have it up and change based on the count.
Oh, the game. Yes, if we must. While a 12-2 scoreline is ugly in every sense, the game was fairly close through the first six innings. Kris Bubic was roughed around in the first, surrendering two bombs for three runs, but the Royals played the role of scrappy underdog, clawing a run back in the bottom of the first. They also added a run in the second, but it could’ve been more.
The key play came after Bobby Witt Jr. laced a one-out double. He broke early against Yankee starter Nestor Cortes, who stepped off the bag, froze Witt and threw back to second. Commence rundown.
Except the Yankees (or more specifically Gleybor Torres) botched the rundown. Torres decided he could take Witt and his elite sprint speed in a footrace. Dumb. Torres lost, but ultimately won when his momentum forced Witt off the bag.
Honestly, I don’t see how anyone can watch that play and not think Torres was responsible for Witt coming off the base. Mike Matheny was ejected, the Royals were left to ponder what if when Edward Olivares hit a two-out single that would’ve brought home Witt. Olivares himself scored following a passed ball and single from Michael A. Taylor. Instead of a tie game, the Royals remained down a run.
Does Matheny (or Matheny’s managerial proxy) pull the bullpen levers a bit differently in a tie game than with the Royals down a run? On Friday they went with Collin Snider followed by Dylan Coleman, Amir Garrett and Jake Brentz. Snider was nails, navigating the dangerous part of the Yankee lineup with a pair of strikeouts. Coleman was close to getting out of his inning with no damage, but a hanging slider to DJ LeMahieu followed by a belt-high fastball to Aaron Judge meant the Yankees doubled their tally on the night.
And then Brentz…Oh my.
Single. Home run. Hit by pitch. Single. Error. Double.
Ballgame.
Brentz has appeared in seven games for the Royals this year. He’s thrown one good inning. His game log is the stuff of nightmares.
Before Saturday’s game, the Royals placed Brentz on the IL with a left flexor strain. That’s something that could be a precursor to Tommy John surgery. Given the walks and the lack of control (only 37 percent of his pitches have found the strike zone this year compared to 48 percent in 2021), it’s not surprising the injury involves his elbow. I’d bet he hasn’t been right all season. Hopefully, he can get back after a period of rest.
Saturday Night Buzzsaw
That the Royals’ offense never got on track against starter Gerrit Cole on Saturday was not surprising. The Royals could only offer seven hits total, five against Cole.
They did have opportunity, though. The Royals loaded the bases with two outs in the third, but Perez rolled over to short to end the inning. In the sixth, they had runners on second and third with one out but Witt and Isbel both went down on strikes. They also put two on in the seventh and eighth innings against the New York bullpen with nothing to show for it.
I guess there weren’t any RBI in those new threads.
What stood out to me from Saturday was another lackluster performance from starter Carlos Hernández. Certainly, some credit has to go to the Yankee lineup. Those guys just grind out plate appearance after plate appearance. It’s exhausting to watch. Hernández required 90 pitches (50 strikes) to get through four innings. His final line was this:
4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 SO
It was the third time in four starts where Hernández walked more than he struck out. For the season, he now has 10 walks against eight strikeouts in 18 innings. I don’t get it. With his stuff—which can border on electric at times—he’s not featuring near enough swing and miss this year. Or maybe I should say not enough swing and miss when he has two strikes on the batter. Opponents are hitting .286/.344/.464 when they have two strikes against them. That’s a whopping 139 percent worse than the league average of .159/.236/.240.
He just can’t put hitters away right now.
Up next
It’s a rescheduling of a makeup game that was previously scheduled. Twice. Or something. In any case, today was supposed to be an off day for the Royals, but they penciled in aa makeup date against the Cardinals for the game that was washed in the first week of the season. Originally scheduled for an evening first pitch, it’s been bumped to a lunchtime start because of this evening’s weather forecast in St. Louis. It’s complicated.
What’s not complicated is Zack Greinke will start for the Royals against Steven Matz. First pitch is due at 12:15 PM CDT.
On Sunday, the Royals briefly held a lead. It was a heady time for all the Kansas City fans at Kauffman Stadium. (Honestly, it sucks that I have to make that distinction. I suppose I should be used to it by now, but it’s always unsettling when the Yankees roll into town and have support at The K.)