The dog days of spring

A few Royals are surging. A few are struggling. Plus, has it really been since 1977 the Royals have had an 100+ RBI guy and 200+ strikeout pitcher in the same year? And a remembrance of UL Washington.

We’ve officially hit the portion of spring training where I’m anxiously looking for the fast forward button. Yes, it was great to have pitchers and catchers report almost a month ago. The sound of the baseball zipping through the air and the pop when it hits the mitt is beautiful after four months without. Same for when the position players report where excitement and optimism abound when the sound of bat meeting ball cracks across the desert.

Even the first few games stir a bit of excitement. Baseball is finally back!

And then, I dunno, I get kind of bored. Maybe I shouldn’t admit it, but Spring Training is just a gigantic tease that lasts forever before the real thing starts. I’m much more into the real thing. Certainly, there are things I’m watching and looking for as the exhibition season grinds on, but really, I’m just looking forward to Opening Day when the statistics and standings are real.

It’s cool that Nate Eaton has clubbed a couple of home runs and is hitting .308 through six games. I’m happy that Nick Pratto is hitting a cool .353 with five RBIs in his six games. CJ Alexander has 13 at bats across eight games and is slugging a robust .692. If we’ve learned anything from the last couple of decades the team has spent their spring in Arizona, it’s that these stats are not to be trusted.

However, it’s better to rake than not. Garrett Hampson is hitting just .176 with three hits, although two of them are doubles. Adam Frazier has just one hit in his Cactus League account over 12 at bats which calculates to an .083 batting average. But he’s drawn three walks.

A hot spring in Surprise may not get you on the roster. I poor one may get you a ticket to Omaha. (Not that free agent signings Hampson or Frazier are Triple-A candidates. Still…) Unless there is a true position battle thrown open, spring training is an exercise in preparation.

I still get pulled in, though. It was good to see a strong start on Wednesday from Angel Zerpa. James McArthur going two innings in relief was interesting and probably a sign of things to come. And the captain Salvador Perez looks locked in and ready for the regular season.

At this point, I’m with Salvy...ready for the real games to start.

One of the goals of spring is just survival. As in, get in your reps and avoid serious injury. We’ve officially reached the portion of spring where injuries to pitchers are starting to pile up. Justin Verlander, Sonny Gray, Tristian Beck, Braxton Garrett, Lucas Giolito, Luis Medina and Dauri Moreta were all subjects of posts on MLB Trade Rumors in the last 24 to 48 hours with some sort of headline that included varying twists on “will not be ready for Opening Day.”

The Royals, aside from Carlos Hernández being shut down for around a week with shoulder soreness, have largely avoided the injury bug to pitchers on their 40-man roster. Jordan Lyles left a B-game early on Tuesday with what the Royals said was lower back tightness. The team will be cautious with Lyles, according to Anne Rogers, but the right-hander played catch on Wednesday and looks to still be on schedule to make his next Cactus League start.

I’m a few days out from making another run at my Opening Day roster projection, but, spoiler alert, Jake Brentz isn’t going to make the club.

He’s clearly not ready as he attempts to make the club after undergoing Tommy John surgery. His latest outing on Wednesday was his worst yet—and there have been a few clunkers. Against the Mariners, he opened up the sixth inning. Here’s how it went.

Walk
Walk
Single
Walk
Throwing error on Brentz
Single

It’s tough to watch a guy struggle like this. Hopefully, it’s just a little rust as he continues to work back from injury. Alternatively, there’s always a possibility that even after the surgery, Brentz’s arm still isn’t right. It seems like he’ll get a few reps in Triple-A to open the year.

I thought I’d close with a couple of notes on the history of the Royals franchise. I came across this Tweet the other day.

First off, I love seemingly random lists like this. It’s a perfect way to remember some guys. Second of all…1977 for the Royals? 1977?!?

My mind started racing. Of course the 100+ RBI guy had to be George Brett. He’s usually the answer to some sort of trivia question surrounding greatness and the Royals. But no! I forgot about Al Cowens, who had the year of his career in 1977, hitting .312/.361/.525 with a team-high 23 home runs (tied with John Mayberry) and 112 RBI. Brett spent most of his time in the leadoff spot that season and played in only 135 games. Cowens, on the other hand, appeared in all 162. He won the Gold Glove for his play in right field that year and finished second in the AL MVP behind Rod Carew.

For the pitcher with 200+ strikeouts, I actually remembered that one: Dennis Leonard. He punched out 244 batters in 1977, a franchise record that still stands. Zack Greinke came close to passing it in his Cy Young year of 2009, but fell two whiffs short.

Leonard and Greinke are just two of four pitchers in franchise history to fan more than 200 batters in a season. That’s…not a lot. Kevin Appier notched 207 strikeouts in 1996. (I will mention this every time Appier’s name comes up: He is criminally underrated among pitchers whose prime years came in the 1990s.) The only other pitcher in Royals history to top 200 strikeouts was Bob Johnson who had 206 in 1970. That’s it. That’s the list.

UL Washington passed away last week after a battle with cancer. He was 70. Washington, an alum of the Royals Baseball Academy, broke in with the big league team in 1977 for a cup of coffee and played sporadically behind Freddie Patek at shortstop for the next couple of seasons. I remember Washington as a prototypical late 70s, early 80s shortstop. Not a great bat and good speed. In the day, guys with that offensive profile played strong defense, but I don’t remember him as a particularly good defensive shortstop.

Still, he was an important player on those late 70s and early 80s teams. And he came through in some important moments. By 1980, he was the Royals’ starting shortstop. He starred in that season’s ALCS against the Yankees, collecting four hits in 11 at bats. His biggest knock came in Game 3 as the Royals completed their three-game sweep.

The Royals were trailing 2-1 in the top of the seventh. Yankee starter Tommy John retired the first two batters that inning. With the lineup flipping over for a fourth time, Willie Wilson clubbed a double. The switch-hitting Washington was up next; he hit much better against lefties that season. Yankee manager Dick Howser decided to play the percentages and turn Washington around by going to his bullpen for right-hander fireballer Rich Gossage.

Washington, though, was able to keep the inning alive. With Gossage pumping 97 MPH, the Royals’ shortstop really slowed the game down, taking the first five pitches to work the count to 3-2. On the next pitch, Washington hit a chopper behind second base that he legged out for a single.

That brought up George Brett and one of the most memorable moments in franchise history.

It was probably due to lackluster defense, but it seemed as though the Royals were never truly comfortable with Washington as their primary shortstop and he was finally shipped to Montreal after the 1984 season. He finished his career a couple of years later in Pittsburgh with the Pirates.

Of course, Washington was most known for the ubiquitous toothpick he would chew on during games. Pull up just about any old Royals game on YouTube and there’s an announcer admonishing the children not to emulate Washington. It’s dangerous! According to his SABR bio, Washington picked up the habit because he didn’t like chewing tobacco. (It’s not crazy to imagine announcers imploring kids to chew tobacco instead of toothpicks. I don’t think that ever happened, but still…The ‘80s were wild. It’s a wonder any of us survived.)

In the playoffs, many viewers became aware for the first time that Washington played with a toothpick in his mouth – something he’d done his entire career. He developed the habit because he didn’t enjoy chewing tobacco, and his father had often sported a toothpick when U.L. was young…

The following spring, Royals trainer Mickey Cobb described how Washington was once “a bloody mess” after his upper lip was shoved into his nose in an exhibition game collision. “It was like a car crash,” Washington confirmed, even though he insisted that the toothpick didn’t cause any of his cuts. Still, he announced that his toothpick days were over prior to Opening Day. “Just tired of answering questions about it,” Washington explained. “I’d change my name, too, if I could, so they’d quit asking me what it stands for.”

…

Washington’s toothpick returned in 1982. “If you hit .273 with it and .227 without it, what would you do?” he asked.

Washington became a coach and minor league manager after he retired. With the Pirates organization, he helped transition Tim Wakefield from a washed-out infielder to a successful knuckleball pitcher. Washington is also credited with helping Mookie Betts with his swing while Betts was a minor leaguer in the Red Sox organization.

For many people, it’s one teacher in their past that unlocked their potential and set them on their life’s path.

For Mookie Betts, that teacher was U.L. Washington.

“He was the No. 1 reason I am who I am today,” Betts said of Washington.

Betts said at that point in his career, he was so frustrated with his performance in the minors that he was on the verge of quitting the game and going to college.

Betts said Washington never said anything to him, just went to work with the 20-year-old, arriving early and re-making Betts’ swing and refining his defense.

“It was just me and him,” Betts said. “I remember. I would go early and he would work with me. I had a big leg kick. He took out my leg kick. He moved my hands around a little bit.

“He’s responsible for really everything that I became.”

I find a bit of comfort in that, knowing there’s just a little slice of UL Washington in Mookie Betts’ bat. I’ll keep that in mind when I catch a Dodger game this summer.

Darin Watson has a nice remembrance of Washington on his Substack.