He's got a real shot at 40. There aren't too many Royals who've hit 30.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jorge Soler reaches the 30-homer mark in style, hitting an absolute moonshot out of Fenway Park. <br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Royals</a> are on FSKC and FSGO right now: <a href="https://t.co/GFNIobLWHK">https://t.co/GFNIobLWHK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AlwaysRoyal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AlwaysRoyal</a> <a href="https://t.co/ru1PKzPwbs">pic.twitter.com/ru1PKzPwbs</a></p>&mdash; FOX Sports Kansas City (@FSKansasCity) <a href="https://twitter.com/FSKansasCity/status/1158894715120447488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He's the 12th person to do it. Tartabull did it twice.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EBU5QBCX...g&name=900x900

10 pitch AB and a HR for O'Hearn. Nice job for him.

Soler has been a nice return for Wade Davis.

Soler Power tonight - #2

He's a got a shot at 40 tonight at this pace.

That would have been out of the stadium too if not for that sign.

Soler is hitting the piss out of the baseball.

I’m not writing anywhere professionally right now. I have a few little projects on the side but they’re just for me.

Just don’t have time with the kids right now. I might get ambitious and start writing my own baseball blog if life ever normalizes.

Soler's not just hitting homers though, he's hitting for average, he's taking walks. He looks legit.

Rough night for Bubba. He did have the homer last night but he's now 4 for his last 33 with 0 walks and 17 strikeouts.

Man that is sad, moreso in the juiced ball era.

Alex 2-33 skid which is worse. 2 walks 6 punch outs. Since May 1 he has an 86wRC+ in 342 Pa. Dude needs to be given some games off here and there.

I'm fine with Alex continuing to play. His offensive struggles help push us closer to that Top 3 pick, we still get to see some outstanding defense in LF, and fans get a long goodbye tour and multiple chances to see him before he exits stage left after this season . . . . .

Have you seen him play D the last few weeks? It's not good. He's declining and it's not a slow process.

He made a really nice play yesterday taking a rebound off the wall and throwing a dart to 2nd to keep the runner to a single. The throw was absolutely perfect.

FWIW, Gordon's minus-5 DRS this season, which puts him 45th among all qualified OFs. He was plus-18 last year, plus-9 the year before that.

It will be nice with Gordon gone this year, Kennedy after 2020, and Duffy after 2021. Assuming some of the pitching continues to develop the team should have the flexibility to sign some position players. There is shit for hitting talent coming up any time soon, so free agency is probably the only answer.

Used to be the norm. More often than not, those throws are slightly off line or really off line.

I'm not saying this as a criticism of Gordon, age always wins. However, you could always argue his elite defense was a good enough reason to keep playing him, but that is no longer the case. His defense is average now, IMO.

Both Gordon and Bubba are not in the starting lineup tonight. Probably a good call.

That is one staggering fall from grace.

Life comes at you fast. I'm almost Gordon's age so this is very scary. :(

Mike Trout just keeps getting better. 7.5 WAR in 108 games. 1.112 OPS. 38 homers.

It will be sad if he doesn't ever get to win a World Series or at least go to one. He's only been to the playoffs, what once?

He's the best player of all time. Not his fault his team doesn't win.

Great, great player!

In his one postseason series, though, he ran into our Boys in Blue, who held him to one hit (a homer) and 3 walks in 15 plate appearances, good for only a 0.600 OPS.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...i01&t=b&post=1

Yeah, you can’t be the best of All Time if you go 1-12 in a playoff series in which your team was the #1 seed in the playoffs and HEAVILY favored over the upstart Royals. His team may suck now, but that Angels team had plenty of talent. He and his team just simply didn’t get it done in that series.

Excellent outing by Sparkman, we need that #2 overall pick.

I know it's a small thing and means nothing long-term...but tonight's lineup is an example of what drives me nuts about Yost and always has. Arteaga batting second? I'm curious as to why he's getting so much playing time as it is...but batting second? WHY? And why can't we just ride Whit and Lopez at 2B and SS until Mondi returns? This seems so simple, but Yost seems to have some convoluted logic that only he's privy to. I give Dayton plenty of slack...I think he deserves it and actually has some talent as a GM...Yost is what he always was. A pretty good manager of players and good at making the painfully obvious decisions on a talent-rich team...but terrible at getting the most out of a team with lesser parts. I'm genuinely surprised more people don't call for a change at manager long before the GM.

AA stats

Junis (23) 21g 119ip 9-7 (8.95k/9 2.04bb/9 o.91hr/9) 3.25era 3.36fip
Singer (22) 11g 59ip 3-3 (7.79k/9 2.59bb/9 1.22hr/9) 4.27era 4.68fip

Gordon was sitting tonight, you gotta play somebody in left. Playing left in Fenway is tricky so Yost stuck Whit out there, which was probably his best option. Thus why you end up with Lopez and Arteaga in the infield.

As far as why he hit Arteaga second, I have no idea. Lack of options, I guess? With Mondesi out and Gordon sitting, not sure who else you can really put there? Lopez was given the opportunity for a while, but couldn’t hold it down.

Yost is not the greatest tactician or manager in general, but in all fairness to him, he doesn’t have much to work with right now.

Yeah you can't really have it both ways. We're sitting here talking about how Gordon and Bubba are struggling big time, well you can't complain when they get a day off and someone else has to play.

At least we aren't the Orioles.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Chris Davis and Manager Brandon Hyde had...Ummm...words �� <a href="https://t.co/smTnS0kCAq">pic.twitter.com/smTnS0kCAq</a></p>&mdash; FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1159294953077370883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Davis is roid ragin'. I hate that mother****ee

Not really wanting it both ways. I haven't actually been complaining about either of them...so that's not really my issue. Must be talking to someone else or "the general tenor" of the board.

Don't care about Lopez and Arteaga manning the infield last night, specifically. My point was that Arteaga has been playing way too much for a non-prospect (realistically), when Lopez is perfectly fine handling SS most of the time. Bonus is it lets Whit rest his legs at 2B for a few more weeks. RE: the lineup - Yes, Lopez has struggled. Arteaga has been worse! Arteaga and Hamilton might be the last two you'd want getting the 2nd most at-bats in a game.

And yes...it's a small thing in the big scheme. I get that. It's just curious...DM gets a lot of the heat. He will deserve it if he can't produce another team that competes for championships. But Yost gets a pass from what I've observed. And while he might not have much to work with, that's also my point. He doesn't get the best out of lesser talent. That's not ideal long-term for a small market.

Maybe so, but either way they both have been awful at the plate lately. Giving them a day off to reset isn't really a big deal.

Surely you don’t mean that in reference to this board? A lot of people here shredded Ned during the WS runs, let alone the years since then. Hell, this board may have created the term “Yosted”.

I don't mean all-time...I mean lately...just like I said. DM has been getting hammered a lot this year...and that's fair. But rarely do I read a peep on Yost. Maybe people just think that as goes DM, so goes Yost...so pushing eject on DM means Yost goes as well. Right now, I'm more concerned in development and I have no qualms about giving DM another year or maybe 2 to get the roster constructed for a run. But I have zero patience for Yost. He's coasting. I want a manager that's hungry and can get the most out of his given roster. Does anyone really think Yost qualifies? Perhaps everyone's just terrified that Matheny is next up.

A lot of truth to what you said there . . . . . .

So managers really make much of a difference ?

Put Yost on the Astros and they still have 75 wins

Put Hinch on the Royals and they have maybe 4-5 more wins.

I liked Kyle Zimmer better when he wasn’t pitching

He’s a flaming bag of walk right now. Absolutely no control. In danger of walking all 4 batters he’s faced

ROFL

Ok, that slider was pretty damned good

This game is an hour and a half old and we're still in the 3rd inning. This is what happens when neither team can pitch.

Amazingly, only one run scored

I hadn’t paid attention to just how awful Detroit was. Not that we’re much either, but dear God, they are horrid.

This was a problem he was having in Omaha. Moving to the opener slot helped him with it.

Wow.

Great back to back AB’s by Hamilton and Whit. :rolleyes:





Edit: And Gordo promptly bails them out.

The day off has seemed to help Gordon. He's hit the ball hard every time up tonight. That was a deep home run.

No wonder Detroit is the way it is. They put ketchup on their hot dogs, according to that advertisement behind home plate at Comerica. Degenerates.

What does that mean?

Start the game with a "reliever" and pitch 1 or 2 innings before giving way to the regular "starter" who will pitch the middle innings.

It's what the Rays have been doing with some success and now other teams are starting to pick up on it. The idea is you're using one of your best bullpen guys against the top of the other team's lineup and their best hitters.

The Royals have actually been doing it down in Omaha, but they haven't tried it in Kansas City yet.

Not a real good night for the young guns. Zimmer, Staumont and Lovelady all got tagged, and the Royals lose.

I'm surprised we were as competitive as we were tonight after the rain delay and late night last night.

Meanwhile Bubic continues to destroy single A. Look at this pitch. Just nasty.

In his last 6 starts he has a 1.39 ERA with 8 BB/49 K.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Complete game from Kris Bubic. His final line:<br><br>9 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K. <br><br>��������������������<br><br>His final pitch of the night: <a href="https://t.co/aWruXnuqun">pic.twitter.com/aWruXnuqun</a></p>&mdash; Royals Farm Report (@RoyalsFarm) <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyalsFarm/status/1159645986161090560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Even better: that’s High A. He might force his way to AA before the season is over.


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It's probably too late this year, but I pray that next year even a single hitter can force a promotion with excellent play. Everyone needs to repeat at Wilmington and grow some balls. Has Lee done enough in AA? It's also way way too early to panic, but Witt Jr isn't exactly lighting it up in rookie ball. It's doubtful he's on the fast track anytime soon.

We need some hitters to start showing their worth next year. Firing the entire coaching staff in Wilmington would be a start.

Bobby Witt Jr.’s OPS slips below .600 in the AZL.

Darryl Collins stays hot by hitting his 7th double of the year. 17-year old from the Netherlands has been impressive.

https://twitter.com/RoyalsFarm/statu...429083648?s=19

A 19 year old in rookie ball should be doing better, no?

Witt's just out of high school. I wouldn't really freak out about anything he does considering he's played like 20 games. That's nothing.

The guys in Wilmington are much more concerning, but that park is just so horrible for hitting. It's remarkable really. But their strikeout rates are really bad.

Lee just turned 21. His numbers aren't terrible, he definitely takes a lot of walks (he leads the Texas League in walks). That's something Royals prospects usually don't do. He also has 43 steals, which is a huge jump up for him. So he's showing some positives.

The next positive thing OKC post will be the first.

Not freaking out, seriously just asking.

May as well trade him to the Yankees for a middle reliever.

and Billy Hamilton played...

Pretty sure that was just because we were facing Boyd so they ran a right handed lineup out there.

I would have liked to see Witt have a very successful debut and come out of the gate with a .300/.350/.500 line or something like that.

Hard to say what they have him working on down there. He also is transitioning to wood bats full time.

The K rate is fine/solid (around 20 percent) so it isn’t like he’s being overwhelmed.

I understand pitchers sometimes can have misleading stats due to them focusing on certain pitches. Can the same thing apply to hitters?

Common theme is to make the players you’re developing more complete by challenging them to find success with things they don’t currently do well.

IE... you need to develop your third pitch to get outs... take away secondary out pitch entirely.

Or... you hit everything you can to the pull side, even pitches away with spin.

Or... you excel hitting early in counts but need to improve two-strike approach and pitch recognition. Work deeper. Etc.

I don’t know if the Royals are doing any of that stuff with Witt, but it’s common practice.

So...with our best org pitchers, it seems most of them will either start at AA and maybe move to AAA next year. What in the world do you do about Pratto and Melendez? I realize walk/strikeout ratio plays in any ballpark...and that's what's so troubling about their performance. Is there ever a case where you avoid Wilmington and just let them get straightened out at Lex until you feel they can be pushed to NWA? They're both pretty young, still...so repeating Wilmington isn't a tragedy. I'm just curious if the ballpark's reputation has created a self-fulfilling prophecy with already-struggling players. I'm not a fan of kiddy-gloving prospects...but their 2019 performance and constant floundering has to be incredibly demoralizing to two guys that have mostly known success in their playing careers.

Success as a professional hitter is all about how you respond to fail and adjust to fix it. So from that perspective, it’s good for guys to have to fail and adjust.

Hosmer had to repeat Wilmington, and it helped him step forward. I think it’s better to get that struggle out of the way at High A... usually happens for most prospects at AA.

The Royals are going to have pitchers worth watching at 3-4 levels.

AAA - Lynch, Singer, Kowar
AA - Bubic, Bowlan, Carlos Hernandez
A+ - Haake, Heasely, del Rosario?
A - Marte, del Rosario?

Where is this power they are talking about for Bobby Witt Jr? 102 ABs, two doubles, zero home runs. Might be another great gem for Dayton. While I say that, Adley Rutchman hasn't been good either in his small sample size in MILB.

Kansas City Royals second best offensive prospect...ummmm...Brewer Hicklen? A 23.6 year old in A ball. I don't know. Man, it's barren down there. We're going to need to flip some milb pitching for some offensive prospects worth a shit at some point.

Is Gerson Garibito (spelling?) any good?

2021 is looking like the year.

For?

I think that I would NEVER flip pitching for hitting.

Good pitching still beats good hitting.

Hitting prospects are safer though.

Like right now Brady Singer is an MLB reliever unless he develops another pitch.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Royals</a> have recalled LHP Eric Skoglund from Triple-A Omaha and optioned RHP Kyle Zimmer.</p>&mdash; Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) <a href="https://twitter.com/alec_lewis/status/1159907637405859840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Scott Bankhead for Danny Tartabull. :D

1) Witt Jr
2) Khalil Lee (AA)
3) Kyle Isbel (A+)

All better prospects with the stick than Hicklen. Phillips has too much service time to be a prospect but also is a better young potential piece than Hicklen. Could also make cases for Nick Heath.