A smashing start to the second half

The Royals blitz the White Sox to open the season's second half. Plus, notes on the draft, the 2025 rivalry week and some ballpark food.

I really slacked off last week with no baseball and found myself scrambling to get a post out the door on Friday. As such, I missed a couple of items that were in my notebook to discuss. That means a bonus Saturday post!

Why not celebrate a weekend entry by subscribing to Into the Fountains today? That way, I can surprise you directly to your email inbox. No spam, only surprises! That’s a helluva sales pitch. Oh, and it’s free. Even better.

The second half got off to a bangin’ start on Friday night. Were you worried Bobby Witt Jr’s swing would be affected by the Home Run Derby? Were you worried he would be gassed by going the distance in said Derby and then playing in the actual All-Star Game? Posh. Here’s the fourth pitch he saw on the night.

White Sox starter Chris Flexen isn’t exactly a flamethrower, but get a look at Witt’s hands and how he keeps them pulled in to reach this pitch that’s on the extreme inside part of the plate. That’s 399 feet. The kid is good at this.

An early dinger can set the tone. Given Chicago’s proclivity to fold at the first sign of fight from an opponent, the Royals simply rolled from there. They scored in the third on a Witt single and then accepted the Sox’s largesse in the fifth as they collected three walks, a hit by pitch, a sac bunt (boo!), a sac fly (from Vinnie Pasquantino, who else) and two singles. From that, they plated five runs. On just two hits! Thank you very much.

That was more than enough offense as the Royals ran away with a 7-1 victory. Witt went 3-3 with a walk, two runs scored, two RBIs and that home run. The dude is now 21-47 in July with five home runs. Damn. Michael Wacha went seven innings, allowing just four hits while keeping Chicago off the board. Wacha owns a 2.30 ERA over his last 10 starts (58.2 IP) while opponents are hitting just .201 against him.

It was a beautiful night to be at the yard. And a beautiful start to the second half. So much beauty!

I don’t usually have much to say about the MLB Draft mostly because I don’t have the bandwidth to follow the amateur game and there are plenty of people who do and do it extremely well.

A couple of reads for you about how the Royals scouting department went about their business this week:

At Farm to Fountains, Jared Perkins has an extremely detailed recap from all three days, including letter grades handed out for each day of the draft.

At Royals Review, Greg Walker has a comprehensive review of all the players the Royals selected.

From my perspective, I can understand why the Royals are thrilled that Jac Caglianone fell to them at number six. It’s the first draft in some time that the team selected the best player available on the board, rather than going an alternate route in the first round as some sort of grander strategy. That’s probably a function of the talent in the draft as a whole and new scouting director Brian Bridges.

Caglianone was selected as a two-way player. As a first baseman, he bashed 68 home runs for the University of Florida the last two seasons and projects to 80-grade power potential. There’s a bit of chase in the swing but if he can tame that, it’s easy to imagine this dude going off for 40+ home runs. That’s exciting. As a pitcher, he’s mid to upper 90s with the fastball, but can’t command worth a lick. Plus, he’s already had a Tommy John surgery.

He’s an athlete with a howitzer of an arm. Drop him in right field and let him get to mashing.

All told, the Royals selected 16 college players, three preps and one dude who took a gap year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. That seems to follow how most of the draft went. It was extremely heavy on collegiate players.

Something I missed from the Royals’ schedule release is there will now be six games against the St. Louis Cardinals, their designated NL “rival” team. That’s up from four, which has created some odd scheduling, such as a Sunday off day that’s coming up on August 11. Here’s the overall breakdown of games in MLB’s balanced schedule.

• 52 games vs. American League Central teams (13 games across four series vs. all four opponents)

• 62 league games vs. American League East and West teams (six or seven games vs. each opponent)

• 48 Interleague games (six games vs. St. Louis and three games vs. all other NL teams)

Again, I’m all for the decrease in games within the division. I like that part of the schedule. It got kind of boring playing four teams 76 times a year. It’s also fine that every team plays every other team at least once. That’s good, too. The ginned-up rivalry thing is fine as well. Except baseball is trying to go the college route and doing a whole “Rivalry Week” thing. My god.

Most of these are interleague games, which makes sense given what they’re attempting here. Notice anything amiss? What about the Phillies and Pirates? The Tigers and Blue Jays? Those aren’t interleague matchups. Bonus! They’re actually playing each other this week! Amazing.

What about the Rockies and Diamondbacks? The Astros and Rangers? Those are divisional matchups and, as noted above, those teams will be playing each other a lot. I don’t know. Seems like you can pair off the Phillies and Jays in a ‘93 World Series rematch. Tigers and Pirates is a rust belt battle. Diamondbacks and Rangers is, of course, the 2023 World Series rematch. That just leaves the Astros and Rockies. I’m not even aware the Rockies exist, and the Astros? Hahahaha. Yeah, those two teams are perfect for each other.

I can appreciate the marketing effort, but when you try to force things, it’s just painfully obvious and not nearly as meaningful as you would hope.

Speaking of painful marketing efforts, the generic All-Star jerseys were hideous. Only Rob Manfred and Nike approve. That should tell you everything.

Amen.

The mad scientists at Aramark (that is meant to be taken literally, it’s not a compliment) spent the first half of the season coming up with the most disgusting menu item they could concoct. Mission, it would seem, accomplished.

This mess is the "Taste of the K Taco" According to the release from Aramark, it’s a “charred hot dog wrapped in a cheeseburger quesadilla and topped with barbecue brisket, French fries, shredded romaine, pickled red onion, Sriracha Cracker Jacks, and 816Sauce.”

There’s a lot to digest here. (I’m so, so sorry.) First, I was completely unaware that a cheeseburger quesadilla was a thing. I’m not opposed to that, on principle. As someone who has enjoyed the Ballpark Pizza and the Mexican Pizza at Tim’s Pizza, I’m all for some unique crossover food items. I’m just not sure how foldable a quesadilla is, but sure…Go for it.

As for the “charred hot dog”, the photo shows the hot dog presumably sliced. Like, why? If you’re going to put a hot dog as the main ingredient of a taco, it’s kind of perfectly shaped for that experience. Stuff is going to be falling out of that mess, a hot dog could be safely tucked inside. Not now. Someone is overthinking things.

The brisket? Fine. It’s Kansas City. Brisket comes with everything.

For the rest of it, whatever. (I will get on my soapbox and say anyone who does not know the plural of Cracker Jack should never, ever be trusted.) I did think they left out a comma between sriracha and Cracker Jacks (sic), but I guess that’s a thing, too. I wish they could’ve figured out a way to put a Pop-Tart on there for the bloggers of the world. Alas.

Finally, from the Aramark release:

“Aramark continues to push the boundaries of the stadium dining experience, ensuring that every game is paired with a memorable meal.”

I laughed. Come on…Quit cosplaying as avant-garde tastemakers. Nobody asked you to push boundaries. You’re not Jackson Pollock in the kitchen. I just want a mold-free hot dog. I fear a typical memorable meal from Aramark is one where you spend most of the next day in agony next to your porcelain god. Not the memories I want to be making!

I will not be eating this. If you are among the brave who have consumed this (and are able to function at a reasonable level after said consumption), drop a review in the comments.