Warming up in Arizona

Good pitching and timely hitting will get you a win in the Cactus League.

There was baseball on the radio Wednesday night and, outside temps be damned, it almost felt like summer. The Royals defeated the Seattle Mariners by a 9-5 score in what I would describe as a generally entertaining Cactus League tilt. So you’re going to get a recap of the action in today’s newsletter.

The top of the lineup looked potent. The important pitchers generally delivered. Salvador Perez left the game early with an injury. MJ Melendez continues to roll. And Joey Wiemer made a statement.

Perez injury aside, it’s the sort of game where you just want to smash that fast-forward button and get to the regular season.

This was the lineup in Wednesday night’s game against the Mariners:

India - LF
Witt Jr. - SS
Pasquantino - 1B
Perez - C
Massey - 2B
Renfroe - RF
Melendez - DH
Garcia - 3B
Wiemer - CF

If you swap Kyle Isbel for Weimer at the nine spot, this feels very much like a potential Opening Day lineup, defensive alignment and all.

Everyone collected a hit except for Hunter Renfroe, but he reached twice. Once on a walk and another time when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Fair is fair, so I have to—and want to, really!—give MJ Melendez some credit. After looking overmatched at the plate the first couple of games, his new swing has come alive. He hit a home run on a 91 mph inside cutter on Wednesday, his second of the spring and is now hitting .300/.364/.700 in 22 PAs.

Of course you’re getting a GIF of that.

As Steve Stewart said on the radio broadcast, that was “a nice, easy swing.” Indeed.

While the home run went to the pull field, Melendez has been spraying the ball all over the field.

Also, he’s generally smoking the cover off the ball. His average exit velocity is 94.3 mph with close to 55 percent of all batted balls being classified as hard-hit. We can drop all the small sample caveats we want or talk about how it’s been done in Arizona, but small steps have to be taken before we see large-scale changes. I’m not saying I’m sold. I’m saying that this is very promising.

Look at the pitches he’s put in play up to this point.

Add it all together and with the new swing we’re seeing what looks to be improved plate coverage along with results that say he’s making some solid contact. This is something the Royals needed to see.

Like I said…promising.

Perez did leave the game early after getting cut under his left eye following a swing. It was kind of a strange moment and I’m still not sure what exactly happened to cause a cut. It doesn’t seem too serious.

After the game Matt Quatraro said they were able to stop the bleeding, but it was beginning to swell up. Chalk it up as an occupational hazard and encase Perez in bubble wrap until the end of the month.

Here’s one of those Spring Training moments for you: Kris Bubic entered the game in the fifth inning and was pulled after throwing 21 pitches to five batters. He allowed a pair of singles and a walk in the frame, but struck out Julio Rodríguez and J.P. Crawford. Both whiffs came on a slider. He was ultimately charged with three runs when Anthony Simonelli came in and coughed up a bases-clearing double to Cal Raleigh.

Bubic re-entered the game the following inning and required just eight pitches to get three outs. It’s all about getting the work in.

Overall, Bubic threw 38 pitches and gave up generally soft contact until his final frame. The one thing I noticed while following on MLB Gameday was that Bubic was really spraying his pitches kind of all over the place.

He fell behind frequently and then was living in the middle of the zone with his sinker. It manifested as a problem as the pitches piled up in his first inning of work and again in the third as the balls put in play against him were tattooed. It’s better illustrated on this chart from just the seventh inning offerings.

The slider in the zone was the first pitch to Crawford. Bubic then uncorked three consecutive pitches that weren’t anywhere near the zone. Two batters later, he fell behind 2-0 to Dominic Canzone. In both cases, Bubic delivered a center-cut sinker. The cutter in the zone was a first-pitch out off the bat of Ryan Bliss. Still, he got three outs. A case of the results being good while the process wasn’t so hot.

Let’s wrap today with a GIF of the Weimer home run.

Easy power. Weimer didn’t make my projected Opening Day roster and that was only his second hit of the spring, but he’s a guy who, if everything comes together, could make an impact. It’s spring. We’re allowed to dream.

The Royals play another night game on Thursday. It’s against the Cubs and will be on MLB.tv and streaming through the Cubs Marquee Sports Network. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 Central.