Familiar futility
The offense reverts to form as the Royals fall to 2-4 on their current road trip.
A week ago, when the Royals embarked on their current road trip, it seemed like this would be a decent yardstick for how they’ve evolved as a team in the early part of 2022. Three games in Baltimore and three games in Texas…Those clubs feel like they’re on par with the Royals this year.
After losing two of three to the Orioles and now, after Thursday’s 3-1 defeat, losing two of three to the Rangers, I’m not so sure those teams are the right comps for the Royals. The Royals are quite worse.
I have to admit, I didn’t see this coming. I figured we’d see an improved team in 2022. Not by a lot over what we saw in 2021, mind you. Still, one that you could watch and say to yourself, “That’s a better team than we’ve seen in Kansas City the last few years.” Unless they reverse course and in a large—and unforeseen—way, this is going to be a difficult next four-plus months to digest.
Let’s leadoff today’s edition with something a little less grim than the Royals offense.
Heasley grinds it out
In his first major league start in 2022, Jonathan Heasley required 80 pitches to record 10 outs, leaving with the bases full in the bottom of the fourth after issuing back-to-back walks. Heasley is known as a guy with above-average command, but he didn’t have it on Thursday, issuing four walks total. Overall, the Rangers had eight baserunners against him in those 3.1 innings, so it counts as a minor miracle they didn’t score more than one.
And that one run? Just to prove that baseball is the cruelest sport, it came on a doinker down the left field line just out of reach of Royals’ third baseman Emmanuel Rivera. It had an exit velocity of 61 MPH and a launch angle of 46 degrees. According to Baseball Savant, batted balls with that profile have an expected batting average of .160. This is where those batted balls land.
That’s the data from before Thursday’s game. Add a little orange circle close to where that one already is down the left field line. Just a tough break that it was dropped in that location.
Lucky bloops and suspect command aside, Heasley worked primarily changeup and four-seam, with a curve and sinker thrown in for a little variety. The change is an above-average offering for him and it wasn’t difficult to see why. He threw 37 of them to the Rangers (46 percent of all pitches) and generated eight whiffs.
Here’s one on the pitch above that was in the center of the dish, but dropped out of the zone. Fantastic location.
That translates to a 27 percent CSW%, which is a nice rate. But as you can see from the pitch chart above, he was missing well to the glove side. I would expect given his ability to repeat his delivery and his general feel for the pitch, that Heasley would dial that pitch in over his next few outings.
The final line isn’t necessarily attractive, but there was enough promise there that I’d like to continue to see Heasley in the rotation.
The offense returns to normal
Through seven innings, the Royals had three batted balls that had an xBA greater than .230. They had four batted balls that qualified as hard-hit. That’s not bad luck. That’s bad offense.
Ok…maybe there was a bit of bad luck at play. Michael A. Taylor drove one to center field in the fifth that would’ve been a home run in 19 of the 30 ballparks according to this fine Twitter account:
Still, let’s be realistic. Had Taylor and the Royals been fortunate enough to be in one of those 19 ballparks, that’s still just a single, solitary run. Although with the state of this offense (aside from Wednesday), a single, solitary run qualifies as an “outburst.”
For the Royals, the outburst finally arrived in the eighth. After MJ Melendez pinch hit (against a left-handed pitcher…ok) for Sebastian Rivero and grounded out (a hard-hit ball!), Whit Merrifield, Andrew Benintendi and Salvador Perez strung together three consecutive singles to plate the Royals’ lone run. Whoooo…Singles Train! Alas, Hunter Dozier and Bobby Witt Jr. both struck out to bring the fun to a close.
I guess the notable thing about Thursday’s lineup was the reinsertion of Merrifield at the leadoff spot. This comes off his three-hit night where he scored four times. Maybe it’s not so notable. Who else is a candidate to hit leadoff on this club? It’s not like there are a ton of options available. At this point, Matheny should just let it ride. Entering Thursday, Royals’ leadoff hitters posted a collective .224 OBP. It’s not great. (More lineup thoughts below.)
We are all Leadoff Whit Merrifield…
You could see the impact of the leadoff hitter in the ninth inning as the Royals had two runners on and flipped the order over for the fifth time. Merrifield grounded out to end the game.
I’ve seen a lot of baseball and I’ve never seen an offense as consistently bad as this one.
More Melendez, please
I’m not sure the Royals have a plan for how they want to use Melendez, and I can’t figure out why that’s the case. In his first plate appearance against the left-handed pitcher, he hit a ground ball with an exit velocity of 96 MPH. It was one of seven hard-hit balls on the night from the Royals.
Then, in the ninth with two outs and a runner on, he provided the best plate appearance of the night.
He took the first two pitches for strikes. I imagine the first pitch was just to get a feel for the pitcher. The second was a pitch he couldn’t do anything with, a slider low and away. From there he spit on a curve that had some bite, fouled off a slider and then took the next three out of the zone to draw the walk. Granted, these pitches weren’t really close, but still…given that situation and the fact he fell behind 0-2, that’s a decent plate appearance in my book. He needed to get on base. And he did.
Why the Royals aren’t penciling him in the lineup every single day is a mystery to me. He needs to have regular playing time.
Central issues
Yankees 15, White Sox 7
Sox starter Dylan Cease pitched four innings on Thursday. Of the 12 outs he recorded, 11 were via the strikeout. In between, he allowed two walks and six hits, including two home runs. This was perhaps the most amazing start of 2022. Meanwhile, Aaron Judge and Mike Stanton were up to their usual tricks. Stanton hit two dingers and Judge only one as they combined to drive in 10. Ten! Plus, this game was tied at seven in the eighth.
The Yankees wear me out.
Athletics 5, Tigers 3
Oakland polished off a four-game sweep of Detroit, outscoring the Tigers 20-4 in the process. Seth Brown hit a two-run home run in the eighth off Michael Fulmer to break a deadlock and provided the margin of victory. I don’t think the Tigers are very good.
Astros 11, Twins 3 - completion of suspended game
Astros 5, Twins 0
Houston poured it on in the completion of the game suspended the night before due to severe weather. Four doubles and a home run were the highlights of a six-run sixth inning where Kyle Tucker had one of each. In the regularly scheduled game, Luis Garcia and three relievers combined for a seven-hit shutout. Yordan Alvarez hit two dingers and drove in three.
Up next
Maybe the schedule will give the Royals a break this weekend. They head to Colorado for a three-game interleague set with the slumping Rockies. Colorado has lost four in a row and, although they are a game above .500, own a -29 run differential while residing in last in the rough and tumble NL West.
Friday - Zack Greinke (0-2, 2.67) vs. Kyle Freeland (1-3, 3.94) @ 7:40 CDT
Saturday - Carlos Hernández (0-2, 7.15) vs. Germán Márquez (0-3, 6.47) @ 7:10 CDT
Sunday - Daniel Lynch (2-2, 4.01) vs. Austin Gomber (2-3, 4.36) @ 1:10 CDT
Their use of Isbel and Melendez absolutely infuriates me I fail to understand why they even have them with the big club. They just as well be in Omaha playing regularly.