Sinking in Seattle

Surprise! The offense manages two runs as The Royals drop another one.

The Royals are putting me to the test. How many times can I spin up a different way to write the same story?

Another day, another stink bomb from the offense. On Monday, the Royals collected four hits—all singles—in a 6-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

Is changing the name of the opponent and the location of the game enough to tell the difference that this was any different from the one yesterday?

Maybe I’m jaded, but it’s difficult to taste the excitement of a rally that consists of a single, a walk, a hit batter and a fielder’s choice. Yes, in Kansas City Royal Land, that constitutes a rally. They scored a single run. It’s a damn rally. Do not “at” me. Or @ me.

The above was how the Royals scored their run in the eighth. That flurry of baserunners came after the Royals had gone four innings without sniffing a base. They went 14 consecutive batters without reaching base. Their other run, which came in the third, was the product of a two-out rally. That rally commenced after the first eight Royals of the game went down without reaching. Then, three consecutive singles, the last of which, by Bobby Witt Jr., drove home a run. Yes, damnit. That’s a rally, too!

Meanwhile, Randy Arozarena was a one-man wrecking crew for the Mariners. Here’s a fun fact: Arozarena had gone the entire month of June with just one home run to his account. On the last day of the month, against the Royals, he hit two.

Cal Raleigh added his obligatory homer in the seventh. Really, there wasn’t much to enjoy from Monday’s game, but you have to be impressed by the season Raleigh is having. The fact that he left the yard, on this pitch sequence, was slightly insane.

Yes, it was one of those “tip your cap” moments. The fact that the guy could go down and hit that pitch and take it the opposite way over the wall…Woah.

That home run from Raleigh came against Daniel Lynch IV. Both of Arozarena’s dingers were off the Royals starter, Michael Wacha. Wacha was sharp on Monday, until he wasn’t.

The speed bump came in the fourth and extended into the fifth. With two outs. It was kicked off by the first Arozarena homer of the night that tied the game. The next three Mariners reached, but Wacha was able to escape a bases-loaded jam with a ground ball to Witt.

The Mariners opened the next inning with three consecutive singles to, once again, load the bases. Raleigh lofted a sacrifice fly to score one run. The second Arozarena home run plated the next three.

Ballgame. As you were.

As for today’s Jac Caglianone discourse, I note that the prospect went 0-4 with a strikeout. None of the balls he put into play were hard-hit. I also had the realization while listening to the game (last night was a radio night for me), that the Royals bringing him to Seattle, the toughest environment in the majors for a hitter, may not have been the smartest move. Nevertheless.

This is how Seattle pitchers attacked Caglianone. Those two swinging strikes up and out of the zone are crazy. The highest of the two was a swing and miss on an 0-2 pitch. Yikes. The other was the first pitch of an at bat. Double yikes.

My position from yesterday’s newsletter remains unchanged. The Royals need to do something to help the guy. Putting him in the starting lineup every day in an attempt for him to “work his way through it” is not a solution.

I’ll share one other pitch chart from Monday. It’s mislabeled from Savant, but it was Donovan Solano’s plate appearance against Wacha in the second inning.

A 12-pitch PA where Wacha is throwing everything he has at the right-handed batter. Seven foul balls. That’s a helluva battle.

The rosters for the All-Star Futures Game were announced on Monday, with catcher Carter Jensen and lefty pitcher Frank Mozzicato earning selections.

Jensen, rated by Baseball America as the third-best prospect in the Royals system, got off to a scorching start for Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Over 308 PAs, he hit .292/.360/.420, good for a 118 wRC+. That kind of production earned him a bump to Triple-A Omaha at the end of June. He scuffled a bit in his first series, but it’s still early days for the catcher from Park Hill High School.

Mozzicato, the former first-round pick, has tumbled down the prospect lists, ranking at number 18 in the organization by BA. He remains something of a prospect conundrum, as he has games where he looks amazing and then other outings where…he’s not. Overall, he’s struggled with control—he’s walked almost 18 percent of the hitters he’s faced this year. Since getting the bump to Double-A in May, his strikeout-to-walk ratio is underwater. In Mozzicato’s last three starts, covering 9.1 innings, he’s walked 15 and struck out three.

I’ll just say I do not know the criteria to get selected to the All-Star Futures Game and leave it at that. TINSTAPP, don’t you know?

Keeping with the prospects theme, BA dropped their fifth mock draft of the year this week.

With Kansas City having picks at number 23 and 28, they’re speculating prep shortstop Daniel Pierce from Georgia and prep lefty Kruz Schoolcraft from Oregon will land with the Royals.

I cannot give an opinion on these guys, and while a prep lefty does not make me excited in the least, the name Kruz Schoolcraft is at least 80-grade.