The gang's all here

Jake Brentz looks healthy, Nelson Velázquez will need a glove and Bobby Witt Jr. is really good.

The position players have joined the pitchers and catchers in Surprise, and the universe, after a cold four and a half months, finally feels as if it’s aligned properly once again. The first games of spring training start on Friday.

How about a round of notes from the first week of camp? Here’s what’s catching my eye at the moment.

There’s been quite a bit of focus on the Royals bullpen and with good reason. One name I feel I may have shortchanged in my projections is Jake Brentz. The lefty has pitched just one full season plus one month for the Royals and hasn’t seen a major league mound since a disastrous April of 2022. He’s making his way back from Tommy John surgery he had in July of that year and the early reports from Surprise are promising.

From Anne Rogers:

Brentz threw his first live BP in camp on Saturday and sat around 95-96 mph with his fastball while throwing tons of strikes with the pitch. He flashed his slider and new split-changeup, which is different from the changeup he had during his rookie season in 2021. The split is a different grip and sits 90-92 mph.

The velocity is good to see. Brentz was hitting 97 mph on the regular in 2021, so he’s just a tick off that throwing bullpens before the Cactus League gets underway. Perhaps the most important nugget of info to glean from the quote above was Brentz was throwing “tons of strikes.” For pitchers coming back from Tommy John, the control is usually the last tumbler that clicks into place. For Brentz to be popping the zone in February is a good development as he tries to get back to the bigs.

Hey! The split-changeup sounds like a promising pitch as well. He’s always been a four-seam/slider kind of guy, so a third pitch in the arsenal can’t be a bad thing.

In 2021 for the Royals, Brentz made 72 appearances, throwing 64 innings. That season he posted a 3.66 ERA with a 10.7 SO/9 and a 5.2 BB/9. The walks were a bit of a bugaboo before his surgery, so I’m not expecting miracles, but he can be a nice left-handed option out of the bullpen for Quatraro.

The competition among the relievers in camp is going to be intense.

A guy who I have slotted in as the designated hitter in both my roster projections is going to see plenty of time in the outfield. That’s according to Quatraro, who had this to say on Tuesday about Nelson Velázquez:

“Oh, he’s definitely going to play in the outfield. He’s a young player, I would not want to shoehorn him into strickly a DH spot. I think that’s the way we feel about a lot of our guys.”

If Velázquez was in the field for the Royals last year, it was primarily as a right fielder. The year before, he spent more innings in center for the Cubs than he did in right. I highly doubt the Royals would use Velázquez in center, given the priority they put on that position and with better defensive options in Kyle Isbel and Drew Waters possibly on the roster.

Last year, Veláquez was at -2 Outs Above Average in right field according to Statcast, and was -1 in Defensive Runs Saved. That’s with a relatively small sample of just over 200 innings played at the position.

I understand what Quatraro is saying in not wanting to pigeonhole Velázquez as a designated hitter this early in his career. And Hunter Renfroe and MJ Melendez aren’t exactly distinguished defensive players. Keep an eye on the Royals’ corner outfield defensive metrics this season. It could be…adventurous.

Because we are desperate for content in February and because we love lists, the mouthpiece of the game, MLB Network, rolls out their top 100 players. They dropped number 11 through 20 on Tuesday and will you look at who’s at number 20? Why it’s none other than Bobby Witt Jr.!

I wanted to see what people were mad about (it’s Twitter…people are always mad), so I clicked on the reply. Not so much about Witt. Plenty about Bryce Harper not being in the top 10. Way to turn out, Philly! (And I think I agree with them.)

Good times.

One of the more interesting—and fun—developments of the winter was what Maikel Garcia did playing for Tiburones de La Guaria in the Venezuelan Winter League. All he did was rake, hitting .424/.543/.576 in 129 plate appearances. He walked 28 times (after drawing 38 free passes in 515 PA for the Royals in ’23) while striking out just nine times. I don’t care what league you’re playing in, those are some impressive numbers.

Quatraro was impressed as well.

“It was amazing. If he’d had enough plate appearances, he would’ve led the league in hitting, a lot like Freddy from the year before. I guess he could’ve been in the running for MVP…the clutch hitting that he had, the energy that he played with…and the passion that he plays with down there was incredible.”

Rogers has more about Garcia’s winter exploits here.

After clubbing 20 doubles and four triples for the Royals last year, Garcia flashed the gap-to-gap power he possesses. He hit nine doubles for La Guaira. We know all about the glove that looked outstanding at third last summer. All he needs to do is add some, let’s say, over-the-fence power and he will be a force.

It’s spring. We’re allowed to dream.