Daily Clips
June 19, 2017
LOCAL
MINORS
Father's Day pop lifts Royals to
series win
Chasers Drop 2nd Straight in
Des Moines, 16-3
June 19, 2017
By Jeffrey Flanagan and Kaelen
Jones/MLB.com
http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/237229258/royals-beatangels-on-salvador-perezs-homer/
Dean Anna and Frank Schwindel go
deep in Omaha defeat
Vargas earns MLB-best 10th
victory
Royals lefty allows three runs in six
frames vs. Angels
June 19, 2017
By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/237336928/royalsjason-vargas-wins-10th-game-of-season/
Hammel aims to continue
rebound vs. Boston
June 19, 2017
By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/237234586/velazquezhammel-to-clash-in-opener/
Royals' offense shows off power
again in 7-3 victory over the
Angels
June 19, 2017
By Rustin Dodd/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-cityroyals/article156876999.html
The ‘secret weapon’ fueling the
Royals’ surge: A clubhouse
espresso machine
June 19, 2017
By Rustin Dodd/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-cityroyals/article156878254.html
First-round pick Nick Pratto’s
first homer came in Royals
uniform ... when he was 7
June 19, 2017
By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/forpetes-sake/article156850439.html
June 19, 2017
Omaha Storm Chasers
https://www.milb.com/storm-chasers/news/chasers-drop-2ndstraight-in-des-moines-16-3/c-237271748/t-196093384
Blue Crew Delivers Salem
Playoff Blues
Rocks End First Half on Six-Game Win
Streak
June 19, 2017
Wilmington Blue Rocks
https://www.milb.com/blue-rocks/news/rocks-end-first-halfon-six-game-win-streak/c-237303230/t-196097164
A tie on Father's Day -- for now
Game suspended with score even at 5-5
June 19, 2017
Lexington Legends
https://www.milb.com/legends/news/a-tie-on-fathers-day---for-now/c-237310364/t-196097274
NATIONAL
Real or not? Royals are
contenders
June 19, 2017
By David Schoenfield/ESPN.com
http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/80488/real-ornot-royals-are-contenders-nolan-arenado-helps-mvp-case
Morosi: Royals to be popular at
Deadline
Moustakas, Hosmer, Cain among players
likely to draw interest from contenders
June 19, 2017
By Jon Paul Morosi/MLB.com
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/237224594/moustakas-cainhosmer-among-kc-trade-assets/
MLB TRANSACTIONS
June 19, 2017 •.CBSSports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions
The Royals finish a 7-2 road trip
and get back in the race
LOCAL
June 19, 2017
By Lee Judge/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columnsblogs/judging-the-royals/article156916004.html
Father's Day pop lifts Royals to
series win
June 19, 2017
Jones/MLB.com
By Jeffrey Flanagan and Kaelen
http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/237229258/royals-beatangels-on-salvador-perezs-homer/
The Royals rode a three-run third inning and four-run fourth
frame to defeat the Angels, 7-3, in Sunday's series finale at
Angel Stadium. With the victory, Kansas City captured its
third straight series win.
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Simmons set a career high when he swiped his 11th stolen
base of the season in the bottom of the first inning. Simmons
only needed 72 appearances to pass the 10 stolen bases he
recorded in 124 games last season.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
Left-hander Jason Vargas (10-3, 2.27 ERA) picked up his
Major League-leading 10th win of the season, allowing three
runs on eight hits and two walks over six innings.
The Angels took a 2-0 lead in the opening frame on an RBI
double by Kole Calhoun and a one-run single by Andrelton
Simmons, however starter JC Ramirez (6-5, 4.59) was unable
to hold the lead, relinquishing five runs on five hits and four
walks across three-plus innings.
Ramirez, who recorded six strikeouts on 89 pitches Sunday,
was more concerned with his high pitch count than content
with the number of batters he fanned.
"I want to go six and seven innings," he said. "I think it
wasn't a bad start, I just threw a lot of pitches."
Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas hit a three-RBI
double in the top of the third to give Kansas City a 3-2
advantage. In the fourth, first baseman Eric Hosmer lifted a
sacrifice fly and Salvador Perez launched a three-run homer
the following at-bat, pushing the Royals ahead, 7-2.
"They got two big, two-out hits -- one by Moustakas and one
by Perez," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "Really set
the tone for the whole game."
Hosmer's RBI marked the 500th of his career.
"To reach 500 is a tremendous honor, especially nowadays
with the pitching as good as it is," Hosmer said. "Obviously,
you can't do it without guys getting on in front of you."
The win moves the Royals, who complete their West Coast
road trip at 7-2, to 33-35. Meanwhile, the Angels drop to 3637, and are 10-10 since Mike Trout hit the disabled list with a
thumb injury May 29.
Royals manager Ned Yost was asked if the recent surge
might get attention from around the league.
"I don't really care if people look at us or not," Yost said.
"We feel good about our team. In years when we [got to the
World Series] we haven't had people look at us like we're
very good. We've learned not to pay attention to it. We just
go out and play as hard as we can and try to win ballgames."
When Calhoun laced his RBI double, it bounced off the top
of the right-field wall to give the Angels a 1-0 lead in the
first. The crew chief reviewed the play, but officials
confirmed that the ball stayed in the park, and Calhoun
remained at second base.
"It looked like it was worth reviewing, for sure," Scioscia
said. "I couldn't tell exactly if it had scraped the wall coming
back from out, scraped the side wall. ... I think that's about as
close as you can come to a home run without getting one."
WHAT'S NEXT
Royals: Right-hander Jason Hammel (3-6, 5.05 ERA) takes
the mound for the Royals as they return home to face Boston
at 7:15 p.m. CT on Monday. Hammel gave up one run over 6
2/3 innings in the Royals' 7-2 win over the Giants on
Wednesday.
Angels: Rookie right-hander Parker Bridwell (1-0, 2.19
ERA) will toe the rubber for the Angels on Tuesday, when
they open a three-game series against New York at 4:05 p.m.
PT. Bridwell is starting in place of right-hander Matt
Shoemaker, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list on
June 15 with a strained right forearm extensor.
Vargas earns MLB-best 10th
victory
Royals lefty allows three runs in six
frames vs. Angels
June 19, 2017
By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/237336928/royalsjason-vargas-wins-10th-game-of-season/
Royals left-hander Jason Vargas maybe wasn't at the top of
his game, but he was plenty good when it counted as he
navigated through six innings and helped steer the Royals to
a 7-3 win over the Angels on Sunday.
Vargas gave up eight hits and three runs, and for his efforts
he became Major League Baseball's first 10-game winner to
go along with his sterling 2.27 ERA.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Perez redeems himself: Perez gave Kansas City a
commanding 7-2 lead when he drilled a three-run homer off
Angels reliever Keynan Middleton in the top of the fourth. In
a bases-loaded situation in the third inning, Perez flied out to
right field leaving the runners stranded.
Vargas survives: In the bottom of the sixth, Vargas allowed
the first three batters of the inning to load the bases with none
out. However, the left-hander buckled down, forcing a sac fly
and two popouts to keep Kansas City in control, up 7-3.
"He started laboring and had the bases loaded and none out,
but did what he does best -- limit the damage," Yost said.
Vargas, though, didn't seem overly impressed with his win
total.
"I'll take it. That's for sure," Vargas said. "But I don't know if
I'm going to look much into it beyond that. It's just nice to
have more wins than losses."
Vargas' day started with some concern. Cameron Maybin
opened the Angels' first with a line-shot single to left. Kole
Calhoun then roped a line drive that just missed being a home
run, instead bouncing off the very top of the right-field wall
and back into play for an RBI double.
Later in the inning, Andrelton Simmons ripped an RBI single
to left and Vargas and the Royals were in a 2-0 hole.
Vargas said he didn't make any particular adjustments after
the first inning.
"The ones that they hit were right over the middle," Vargas
said. "The one to Calhoun, I was lucky it didn't leave the
park. And the one to Simmons was right over the plate. Just
didn't make any quality pitches at that point."
From there, Vargas grinded through without any major
trouble until the sixth inning when the Angels loaded the
bases with none out with the Royals leading, 7-2.
But Vargas got Danny Espinosa to pop out to short right. Ben
Revere brought home one run with a sacrifice fly but after a
long battle, Vargas got catcher Juan Graterol to pop out.
"I think that [Espinosa] was probably the most key out,"
Vargas said. "That got us into position to get a double play
and not let any runs in. After that it was just kind of a grind.
"I put us in a situation where we could have let them back in
the game. So it's nice to make a couple of big pitches and get
a couple of big outs."
Royals manager Ned Yost said he wasn't especially worried
that inning.
"He did what he does best -- limit the damage," Yost said.
And don't look now, but Vargas appears to be putting himself
into position for an invite to the All-Star Game presented by
MasterCard.
"I don't know about that," Vargas said. "I've never been
invited to the [Midsummer] Classic. We'll just see how things
shake out."
Hammel aims to continue
rebound vs. Boston
June 19, 2017
By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/237234586/velazquezhammel-to-clash-in-opener/
Royals right-hander Jason Hammel will try to continue his
dramatic turnaround when he takes on the Red Sox on
Monday night at Kauffman Stadium. Rookie right-hander
Hector Velazquez, who was recently added to the Red Sox's
rotation, will start for Boston.
Hammel struggled through his first eight starts this season,
posting a 1-7 record with a 6.20 ERA as opponents hit .320
off him. But after a tweak to his setup -- he now squares his
shoulders to the plate from the stretch -- Hammel has been
solid.
In his last three starts, Hammel is 2-1 with a 2.21 ERA while
opponents are hitting .218 off him.
"He's really settled in," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He
really looks good right now."
Velazquez, 28, was signed this spring out of the Mexican
League. He made one start on May 18 and gave up nine hits
and six runs in an 8-3 loss to Oakland. Since then, he has
made one relief appearance -- 3 1/3 shutout innings against
the Phillies. Velazquez posted a 1.29 ERA in nine starts at
Triple-A Pawtucket.
"We're going to be going up against a team that is playing
extremely well and they're swinging a lot of hot bats," Red
Sox manager John Farrell said. "So location will always be
the key, particularly against a team that's swinging the bat
like they are."
Things to know about this game
• Hammel will have to be careful with Red Sox designated
hitter Hanley Ramirez and second baseman Dustin Pedroia.
Ramirez is hitting .462 against Hammel with a double and a
home run, while Pedroia is hitting .364, also with a double
and a home run.
• The Red Sox haven't faced Hammel since 2013. He has a
4.61 career ERA against the Red Sox in 13 career outings.
• Lorenzo Cain has gone from having one home run on the
season on the morning of May 23 to having 10 midway
through June, and one of the Majors' hottest hitters has turned
around his contact metrics this month. Cain's rate of
"productive" contact (or the three batted ball types -- barrels,
flares/burners and other solid contact -- that Statcast deems
most favorable to the hitter), barrel count (from three
combined in April/May to seven this month) and average exit
velocity (88.5 mph in April/May to 91.7 mph in June) have
all jumped up as the weather has gotten warmer.
Royals' offense shows off power
again in 7-3 victory over the
Angels
June 19, 2017
By Rustin Dodd/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-cityroyals/article156876999.html
For another day, the music played inside the visitors
clubhouse. On the bottom floor of Angel Stadium, the
boisterous celebration could be heard in a nearby foyer. The
sound of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” booming through walls.
A voice screaming above the cheers. A victorious ritual after
a seventh victory in nine games.
The Royals do this after every win, a tradition born across
postseason runs and World Series appearances, a rollicking
way to savor every good day like it might be their last. Yet
for close to two months, the postgame scenes were becoming
a rare sight, a casualty as an offense scuffled and a team
began to buckle under the weight of expectations and
uncertainty.
On June 5, the Royals were 24-32, 6 1/2 games out of first
place, and if the buzzards weren't quite circling, they were
thinking about the proper time. On Sunday, the music was
back after a 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Salvador Perez clubbed a three-run homer in a four-run
fourth inning. Starter Jason Vargas allowed three runs across
six innings while earning his major-league-leading 10th win.
The Royals (33-35) closed out a nine-game California road
trip with another promising performance, shaking off a
shutout loss on Saturday that ended a six-game winning
streak. In the process, they pulled to within two games of
.500 and 3 1/2 games of the first-place Cleveland Indians in
the American League Central.
The Royals may have changed the arc of their season by
beating up on two bad teams and one mediocre club during a
10-day span. They may have changed perceptions across
baseball, too, a championship core regrouping for a June run
under the threat of a painful trade deadline. Not that manager
Ned Yost thought about the latter as he sat inside his office
on late Sunday afternoon.
“I don’t really care if people look at us or not,” Yost said.
“We know what we’re capable of doing. We feel good about
our team. We haven’t, even in years when we’ve won world
championships, got a lot of people looking at us and thinking
we were very good — even back then.”
The Royals, though, finally appear to be resembling the outfit
that made consecutive postseason appearances in 2014 and
2015 and finished .500 last season while dealing with a rash
of injuries. The roster is different now, a little more power, a
little less speed, a bullpen not quite as dominant. But the
spine of the 2015 team remains in catcher Salvador Perez,
center fielder Lorenzo Cain, first baseman Eric Hosmer and
third baseman Mike Moustakas. The core showed up during a
nine-game road trip through San Diego, San Francisco and
Los Angeles.
Perez’s three-run shot off reliever Keynan Middleton in the
fourth on Sunday gave the Royals’ 18 homers on the road
trip, including six from Cain and 14 total from the
aforementioned four players. The barrage left the Royals with
82 homers for the season, on pace for 195 in 162 games. The
number would shatter the club’s franchise record of 168, set
in 1987.
“They’ve been some big homers, too,” said Hosmer, who
notched his 500th career RBI on Sunday. “That’s kind of the
way our team has molded into this year. We get some guys
on, get some timely hitting.”
The Royals were hitting homers in April and May, too. But
with too many holes in the lineup, the blasts were often solo.
That has changed in the last couple weeks. With the
emergence of Jorge Bonifacio, the continued production of
Whit Merrifield, who was off on Sunday, and torrid stretches
from Hosmer and Cain, the offense has hit its stride. Even
after getting shut out on Saturday, the Royals averaged 6.1
runs per game on the road trip. The staggering numbers will
not continue, of course, but this is the unit the Royals
expected coming out of spring training, Yost said. Now they
must find a way to produce back at home at Kauffman
Stadium as they open a three-game series against the Boston
Red Sox.
“You feel good in parks that are home run parks,” Yost said.
“It’s a little bit different going home. But we’re swinging the
bats well right now.”
As the offense finished off the road trip in style, Vargas
became the first pitcher in baseball to reach 10 wins. With his
record at 10-3 and a 2.27 ERA, he did not appear particularly
interested in his number of victories.
“I mean, I’ll take it,” Vargas said. “I don’t know if I’m going
to look much into it past that. It’s definitely nice to have
more wins than losses.”
On Sunday, he allowed two runs in the first inning, including
an RBI double from Kole Calhoun that smacked off the top
of the wall in right field. He then worked four straight
scoreless innings before running into trouble in the sixth.
With the lead at 7-2, Vargas loaded the bases by allowing a
double to Yunel Escobar, a single to Andrelton Simmons and
a walk to C.J. Cron. As the Royals’ bullpen readied, Yost
stuck with Vargas.
He limited the damage by coaxing Danny Espinosa into a
shallow fly ball to right field before Ben Revere hit a
sacrifice fly to center. The inning ended when Juan Graterol
popped out to first base.
“It was just kind of a grind, and I wasn’t making as many
good pitches,” Vargas said. “So I was really just trying to
miss — if I was going to miss — miss in the right spot.”
Vargas could not offer dominance, his most common state in
2017. But the Royals’ offense picked him up. Mike
Moustakas cleared the bases with a two-out double in the
third off Angels starter JC Ramirez. Perez hammered a
homer to center in the fourth. And the Royals could basked in
a productive road trip and a flight back to Kansas City.
On Monday, a three-game series with the Red Sox awaits.
After that, the Toronto Blue Jays will come to town. As he
pondered the schedule, Hosmer deemed it a good time to get
back home.
“We’re ready for it, and we’re playing good,” he said. “So if
there’s any time to take on those guys, it’s right now.”
The ‘secret weapon’ fueling the
Royals’ surge: A clubhouse
espresso machine
June 19, 2017
By Rustin Dodd/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansas-cityroyals/article156878254.html
On most days at Kauffman Stadium, Peter Moylan leaves his
locker in the home clubhouse in the late afternoon and
escapes to an adjacent kitchen, where Royals players eat
before games.
A 38-year-old right-hander, Moylan spends his nights
attacking opposing hitters as a side-arm reliever. In the
moments before first pitch, he adopts a different role: Barista.
Using a Brevill Express Espresso Machine, a slick metal
contraption he purchased on Amazon for $599, and a bag of
Lavazza Super Crema Whole Bean Espresso, Moylan doles
out cups of his specialty: “The Sledge-iatto,” — fine, creamy
espresso blended with chocolate milk and served on ice.
A native of Australia with an affinity for premium coffee,
Moylan ordered the machine back in April. In the weeks after
it arrived, as the Royals climbed back into the race in the
American League Central, the drink took the clubhouse by
storm. On Sunday, the latest step forward came in the form of
a 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels here at Angel
Stadium. Inside the visitors clubhouse was proof of the
obsession: A baseball team was suddenly hooked on
espresso.
“It’s a little bit of a secret weapon,” said Whit Merrifield, the
Royals’ starting second baseman.
Merrifield had his first cup of Moylan’s espresso on May 13,
the first day of a 19-game hitting streak. Left fielder Alex
Gordon finally gave into Moylan’s prodding in early June,
sampling his first taste. A few days later, he hit his first home
run in a victory over the Astros. Not satisfied by simply
having the drink at home games, Gordon went out and
bought another espresso machine to take on road trips.
“Gordo looks like he’s never had caffeine before,” starting
pitcher Ian Kennedy said. “He’s like: ‘We need to buy one
for road!”
“If I find a Starbucks with a Clover machine, I’ll walk to it,”
Kennedy said. “I do like coffee a lot. I don’t own a cafe. I
haven’t gone that far.”
Gordon, a health nut who obeys a rigid diet, has never been
much of a coffee guy, he says. He counts every calorie that
enters his body. He studies foods and drinks for their
nutritional value. For years, he eschewed sugary sodas for
protein shakes. But there was something about the way
Moylan crafted his drink, he said, the combination of
espresso and chocolate milk. The perfect afternoon pick-meup.
Another reluctant espresso drinker is Royals manager Ned
Yost, who said he likes to limit his caffeine intake to a few
cups of coffee in the morning or a quick run through
Starbucks. Yost once famously gave his name as “Frank” at a
local Plaza Starbucks to avoid fans during his difficult early
years at the helm. Now, he avoids coffee before games for a
practical reason.
“I was never really a coffee drinker, ever,” Gordon says. “It’s
kind of an iced coffee espresso and chocolate milk. You’ll
have to ask Peter. He’s the master. He kind of got me hooked
on it. So coffee it is.”
Inside major-league clubhouses, fresh coffee is hardly a
unique item. The season is long and grueling. The road trips
weigh on the body and mind. Years after amphetamines were
officially banned by Major League Baseball, players still
subsist on coffee, Red Bull and other energy drinks.
Whatever provides the biggest jolt.
It is not uncommon to see starting pitchers drop by Starbucks
on the way to the ballpark or position players sipping on a
cup of Joe before batting practice. But for Moylan, an
offseason resident of Melbourne, Australia, a port city and
one of the coffee capitals of the world, the old coffee in the
clubhouse was not up to standard.
“We need to have good coffee here,” Moylan said, before
later adding: “We don’t have instant coffee in Australia.”
Back in Melbourne, Moylan says, there exists a “cafe
culture.” Relationships are built around conversations over
coffee. The espresso culture dates back a half-century or so.
In May, Moylan and an old friend named Russell Spear
opened up a coffee place called the Apollo Cafe in West
Melbourne, a neighborhood near his home. Moylan said he
had thought about opening a cafe for years.
“There’s a culture,” Moylan said. “It’s insane. You go 200
feet and there’s a cafe, a cafe, a cafe. It’s all really good
coffee.”
Business is good so far, and he will return home to check on
the progress of the place in the offseason. But for now, as the
season rolls on, he’s instituting the cafe culture in the Royals’
clubhouse. He sought to start with espresso, a drink made
with boiling water, pressure and finely ground coffee beans.
“I stay away from the coffee,” Yost said. “It gets me thrown
out of games.”
Moylan, though, may have won over another convert in
recent days: Center fielder Lorenzo Cain. On most
afternoons, Cain limits his pregame routine to water and Red
Bull. If he’s really dragging, he’ll drink a Red Bull and a cup
coffee. But not until recently did he try one of Moylan’s
signature espresso drinks. It was Wednesday morning at
AT&T Park in San Francisco. The Royals were in the midst
of what would be a six-game winning streak. Cain loathes
day games. So Moylan approached with a Sledge-iatto.
“He was like: ‘Hey, this espresso has got two hits in it,’ “
Cain said. “I ended up getting three knocks that day. I went
for three for four with a home run. So maybe there’s
something to it.”
First-round pick Nick Pratto’s
first homer came in Royals
uniform ... when he was 7
June 19, 2017
By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/forpetes-sake/article156850439.html
On Monday afternoon, Nick Pratto likely will slip on a
Royals jersey and answer questions at a news conference at
Kauffman Stadium.
But it won’t be the first time Pratto, who was selected by
Kansas City with the 14th overall pick in last Monday’s draft,
has worn a Royals uniform. Eleven years earlier, he played
for the Royals in his little league in Huntington Beach, Calif.
Obviously, the uniform wasn’t an exact match, but his dad,
Jeff, chuckled at the memory in a phone interview on
Sunday.
“You’ll never see this at Starbucks,” Moylan said, scrolling
through photos of specialty drinks on his phone. “Because
they don’t do it right. They don’t froth the milk properly.”
As the manager of his son’s little league baseball team, Jeff
Pratto each season had the opportunity to choose the team’s
uniforms from a list of Major League Baseball teams
provided by the league.
Moments later, Merrifield offered another review: “It’s not
just the espresso,” he said. “It’s the special type of
concoction.”
When his son was 7 years old, Pratto took notice of a new
team on the list — the Royals.
For now, Moylan has few holdouts inside the clubhouse.
Kennedy, a veteran starter, considers himself a coffee
connoisseur of sorts, but he prefers Pour Over coffee or
French presses. He doesn’t do espresso. He’s found good
coffee beans at The Roasterie in Kansas City, he says. He’ll
spend time reading reviews of coffee machines online. He
recently became intrigued by The Clover, a relatively new
method for making coffee.
“I said, ‘That’s pretty cool. They’ve never had a Royals team.
I’m going to take the Royals.’ They let you pick the uniforms
as the manager,” Pratto said in a phone interview Sunday. “I
liked it, so I picked it. I don’t think they’ve ever had a Royals
team since. I think they will now though.”
Yeah, that’s likely going to happen.
Jeff Pratto said his wife Laura and Nick are flying into
Kansas City on Sunday and Nick will have a physical on
Monday. After that, Nick’s contract is expected to be signed
and the family will be at Kauffman Stadium for Monday’s
Royals-Red Sox game.
When facing a nervous rookie, hitters might be passive and
allow the rookie to pitch his way into trouble; maybe the
rookie will walk some batters or at least fall behind in the
count.
Although nothing has been announced, it’s customary for the
Royals’ first-round draft pick to meet the media when the
signing is official, so that probably will happen Monday.
When facing a veteran pitcher who does not appear to have a
pulse, hitters might be more aggressive; the veteran is going
to throw strikes and, if they take pitches, the hitters will fall
behind in the count.
Jeff Pratto has always coached his son’s teams, but that will
end when Nick heads to Surprise, Ariz., and Jeff goes back to
California. But Jeff believes Nick’s work ethic will suit him
well in the minor leagues.
On Sunday, against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and
Greater Orange County, Jason Vargas faced 27 batters and
threw a first-pitch strike to 17 of them; 13 of the Angels
batters swung at the first strike they saw.
“He’s always been a really hard worker,” Jeff Pratto said.
“I’ve told a lot of people this: when I say not once, I mean
not once have I ever had to ask him to get his shoes on, get
ready for practice, let’s go hit. I can count many a time I’ve
been home sleeping and going to bed and he’ll say let’s go
hit. So we go down to our cage, we have a dear friend who
runs Total Baseball in Huntington Beach, he lets us use his
cage anytime, and we’ll go in there and hit.
Vargas being aggressive about throwing strikes forced the
Angels to be aggressive about swinging the bat. That kept
Vargas’ pitch count low, so entering the sixth inning Vargas
had only thrown 66 pitches.
“He’s just a hard worker. He loves to hit. That’s what he
loves to do. And he likes to work at things. And his fielding
as well.”
That was crucial.
When the Angels loaded the bases with nobody out, Vargas
still had something left in the tank: he got the next three
batters out and only allowed one run while doing so. Vargas
wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in the past, but he was good
enough to win his 10th game.
Jeff Pratto has fond memories of the Royals, even though
they were the bullies of the American League West back in
the 1970s.
The Royals beat the Angels 7-3.
“I’m 52, almost 53, so I go back to, needless to say, George
Brett, but back to Frank White, Amos Otis, Cookie Rojas,
Paul Splittorff, all those guys,” Jeff Pratto said. “I’ve got all
their cards. I used to watch them beat up on the Angels all the
time.”
During the Angels series, Albert Pujols got a 3-0 green light
and that’s worth writing about.
Jeff Pratto also happily recalls Nick in a Royals uniform,
including one moment that came before his well-publicized
hit that won the Little League World Series.
“He hit his first-ever over-the-fence homer in a Royals uni,”
Jeff Pratto said. “There’s more coming.”
3-0 green lights
Managers sometimes give 3-0 green lights to hitters with
pop; hitters that can do extra-base damage. Albert Pujols fits
that description, so it’s easy to see why Mike Scioscia let the
future Hall of Famer swing away.
But if there are important runs in scoring position, a singles
hitter might get the 3-0 green light; after all, a single with a
runner on second base might do as much damage as a solo
home run.
The Royals and their fans are counting on it.
And, with some pitchers, a 3-0 count is no guarantee of a
walk.
The Royals finish a 7-2 road trip
and get back in the race
Some guys have enough control to throw three borderline
pitches off the plate; then throw strikes when they have to. So
if a pitcher can hit the mitt when he has to, a 3-0 green light
might make sense.
June 19, 2017
By Lee Judge/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columnsblogs/judging-the-royals/article156916004.html
On Thursday, June 8, the Kansas City Royals started a ninegame road trip. Their record was 26-33 and they were 5 1/2
out of first place.
On Sunday, June 18, the Kansas City Royals finished that
road trip 7-2. Their record is now 33-35 and they’re 3 1/2
out of first place.
Why you might see a 3-0 steal
Chris Getz — who was a very smart ballplayer — once stole
second base in a 3-0 count and I asked why. Why steal
second base when the pitcher was one bad pitch away from
walking the batter and moving Getz into scoring position
with no risk of being thrown out?
Getz explained:
The Royals now have a shot at first place and anyone who
jumped off their bandwagon might consider crawling back
on.
The pitcher on the mound that day was one of those guys
with good control; even though he was in a 3-0 count, he was
still unlikely to walk the batter.
Jason Vargas forces the Angels to swing the bat
But one pitch away from issuing a walk, some pitchers slow
down their delivery to make sure they throw a strike. A
pitcher who normally takes 1.3 seconds to deliver a pitch,
might take 1.5 seconds to deliver a 3-0 pitch.
The base was there for the taking; Getz took it and the batter
— who was not walked — drove him in.
Smart players might have better retirement options than more
talented players who aren’t quite as smart.
After Getz quit playing, the Royals hired him as baseball
operations assistant. Then the Chicago White Sox offered
Getz a job and he’s currently their director of player
development.
But Iowa pulled away in the bottom of the 4th, scoring 5
times. Mark Zagunis walked, went to 3rd on an errant pickoff
throw, and scored on a double by Jacob Hannemann. Jeimer
Candelario walked, Bijan Rademacher singled, and Victor
Caratini hit a sacrifice fly, making it 6-1. With 2 out, Taylor
Davis singled in Candelario, marking the end of the day for
Chasers starter Christian Binford .
Mark Peterson entered the game, and was greeted by RBI
singles from Elliot Soto and John Andreoli, pushing Iowa's
lead to 9-1.
On Tuesday, dine with Drew Butera
Binford (L, 3-5) was charged with 9 runs, 8 hits, and 5 walks
in 3.2 innings. He struck out 4.
On Tuesday, the Star will post the first of three videos called
“Dining with Drew” and it’s pretty much exactly what it
sounds like.
Casey Kelly (W, 4-1) tossed 6 innings for Iowa. He scattered
8 hits, allowed 1 run, and walked just 1 batter, while striking
out 6.
Royals catcher Drew Butera and I went to lunch at Garozzo’s
Italian Ristorante and talked food, family and baseball while
recording the experience. We couldn’t invite every Royals
fan in Kansas City to come along (Garozzo’s dining room
isn’t that big), but if you ever wanted to hang out with a big
league ballplayer, this is the next-best thing.
Mark Peterson tossed scoreless innings in the 5th and 6th,
before being touched for a run in the 7th. Elliot Soto doubled,
John Andreoli was hit by a pitch, and Mark Zagunis walked.
Jacob Hanneman grounded out to produce a run, running the
score to 10-1 Iowa.
You’ll get to hear some pretty funny stories from Drew and
see how much Italian food two guys can eat without
exploding.
Frank Schwindel led off the top of the 8th with his 2nd home
run. Dean Anna followed with a walk, went to 3rd on an
error, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Garin Cecchini ,
cutting the deficit to 10-3.
But be careful:
After viewing the first segment — “Appetizers” — several of
my coworkers got so hungry they immediately left work to
eat lunch at Garozzo’s and try the dishes they saw in the
video. (I can highly recommend the Sicilian Artichoke.)
Iowa piled on 6 more in the bottom of the 8th, however,
against Brian Flynn . Stephen Bruno doubled, Taylor Davis
singled, and Elliot Soto singled to drive in a run. John
Andreolio followed with a 3-run homer, giving Iowa a 14-3
lead. Then, after a Mark Zagunis walk, Jeimer Candelario
blasted a 2-run round-tripper, making it 16-3.
Check back in Tuesday and you’ll be “Dining with Drew.”
The defeat dropped Omaha's record to 34-33.
MINORS
The Chasers will continue the series in Des Moines tomorrow
night. RHP Luke Farrell (5-3, 4.35) will throw for Omaha,
while RHP Casey Kelly (3-1, 5.10) will throw for Iowa. First
pitch will be at 1:08.
Chasers Drop 2nd Straight in
Des Moines, 16-3
Dean Anna and Frank Schwindel go
deep in Omaha defeat
June 19, 2017
Omaha Storm Chasers
https://www.milb.com/storm-chasers/news/chasers-drop-2ndstraight-in-des-moines-16-3/c-237271748/t-196093384
The Storm Chasers found themselves swamped early for a
2nd consecutive game, as Iowa struck for multiple big
innings and cruised to a 14-3 win over Omaha on Sunday
afternoon at Principal Park.
Iowa again scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Just as he
did the night before, Jacob Hannemann began the rally by
dropping down a bunt single. Jeimer Candelario followed
with a walk, and Bijan Rademacher doubled home both
runners. After a walk to Victor Caratini, Stephen Bruno
singled to score Rademacher, and Elliot Soto singled in
Caratini for a 4-0 Cubs lead.
Dean Anna cut into the deficit with a solo homer in the top of
the 2nd for his 3rd longball of the season.
Blue Crew Delivers Salem
Playoff Blues
Rocks End First Half on Six-Game Win
Streak
June 19, 2017
Wilmington Blue Rocks
https://www.milb.com/blue-rocks/news/rocks-end-first-halfon-six-game-win-streak/c-237303230/t-196097164
The Wilmington Blue Rocks (39-31) swept the doubleheader
against the Salem Red Sox (40-29) taking the first game 3-1
before blanking the Red Sox 5-0 in the second game on
Sunday afternoon. The two wins for Wilmington knocked
Salem out of the First Half Northern Division Title race.
Starting pitching continued to be the theme as RHP Andres
Machado tossed five innings of one-run ball in the opening
victory while spot-starter RHP Jared Ruxer dazzled in the
backend of the twin bill with five scoreless innings of one-hit
ball, setting a season-high with six strikeouts. With the pair
of wins, the Rocks have extended their season-best winning
streak to six games and are a season-high eight games above
.500 entering the All-Star Break.
Game 1
Salem struck first in the second inning on a Jeremy Rivera
RBI single to centerfield to score one run, but Cody Jones
threw out Austin Rye at the plate to keep it just a single tally
lead for Salem. In the fourth inning, the rolling offense of the
Rocks got to work. Chris DeVito tied the game with an
opposite-field RBI single before Wander Franco laced a tworun double down the left field line to make it a 3-1 ballgame.
The combination of Machado and All-Star Richard Lovelady
held the Salem offense in check after the second inning.
Machado notched his third win of the year and allowed just
one run on four hits in five innings of work and set a seasonhigh with seven strike outs. Lovelady entered in the sixth
inning and tossed two scoreless innings to earn his teamleading sixth save of the year.
Game 2
In the second game of the double dip, it was all Blue Rocks
as they spoiled Salem's chance to clinch the First Half
Northern Division title. Wilmington cracked the scoreboard
in the second inning. After three straight one-out singles,
Jecksson Flores blooped a two-run single to right field to
score Franco and Kort Peterson to give the local nine offense
an early 2-0 advantage.
The Rocks were at it again in the fourth inning when Flores
executed a safety squeeze bunt to drive Peterson in from third
to take a 3-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Wilmington broke the
game open with two more runs. DeVito drove in his second
RBI of the afternoon with a single to right field while Burt
scored on an infield single off the bat of Anderson Miller and
an error on a dropped catch from Salem's starter Matthew
Kent to pad the Rocks lead 5-0.
Ruxer put together an excellent outing on the hill and
silenced the Red Sox offense in five innings of work, allowed
just one hit and struck out a season-high six batters to earn
the win.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The Northern Division added the seventh Blue Rock to their
All-Star Game roster as A.J. Puckett recently was selected to
the midsummer classic. Puckett joins Yunior Marte, Richard
Lovelady, Cristian Castillo, Foster Griffin Nicky Lopez, and
Anderson Miller as Wilmington All-Stars. Griffin will be the
only Blue Rocks not participating because of his promotion
to Double-A earlier this season. Puckett has been a staple
point in a talent starting pitching rotation for the Blue Rocks,
starting 13 games and accruing a 6-4 record with a 3.86 ERA
whil striking out 67 batters in 70 innings of work. The honor
marks the first All-Star selection for Puckett, who is ranked
the fifth best prospect in the Royals organization per Baseball
America.
The Blue Rocks concluded their first half in dominant
fashion. During their six-game winning streak, the Blue Crew
have outscored their opponents 34-2 and have allowed just
two runs in their last 48 inning of play. Wilmington is also a
season-best eight-games over .500 and finished just 2.5
games out of first place.
With the doubleheader sweep, it marks the first time this
season the Rocks swept and opponent in a four-game series.
The Blue Rocks have posted four consecutive wins on three
different occasions, but never stringing the victories together
in the same series. Wilmington have now won two of their
four doubleheaders played this year while splitting the other
two.
The shutout victory in the second game of the doubleheader
marked the fourth time in the last five games the Blue Rocks
have shutout out their opponent. On the year, the Blue Crew
have now blanked opponents for the tenth time this season. In
the previous two season, the Blue Rocks had shutout the
opposition a total of 14 times. In 2016, Wilmington tossed
just five shutouts.
A tie on Father's Day -- for now
Game suspended with score even at 5-5
June 19, 2017
Lexington Legends
https://www.milb.com/legends/news/a-tie-on-fathers-day---for-now/c-237310364/t-196097274
The game between the Hagerstown Suns and the Lexington
Legends at Whitaker Bank Ballpark Sunday was suspended
due to rain in the ninth inning with the score tied at 5-5.
No date for resumption of the game was announced. A
decision will be made later by the South Atlantic League.
The Suns opened the scoring with two runs in the second
inning. Jake Noll and Jakson Reetz started the inning with
singles, and after Telmito Agustin struck out, Anderson
Franco singled, scoring Noll.
The Legends answered with four runs in the bottom of the
second. Emmanuel Rivera led off with a single, and Gabriel
Cancel reached first on an error by shortstop Paul
Panaccione. John Brontsema's single scored Rivera. Manny
Olloque singled, and Cancel, who had stopped at third,
scored when second baseman Angelo La Bruna was unable to
handle the throw from the outfield. Brontsema scored the goahead run on a sacrifice fly by Marten Gasparini. Olloque
then stole third base and scored on a single to right field by
Mark Sanchez, giving the Legends a 4-2 lead.
The Legends added a run in the bottom of the fourth and
Hagerstown responded with one in the fifth, leaving the score
at 5-3.
The Suns tied the game with two runs in the top of the
seventh. With one out, Blake Perkins walked, and with two
outs, Daniel Johnson was hit by a pitch. After Jose Veras
relieved starter Travis Eckert for Lexington, Noll singled,
scoring Perkins and sending Johnson to third, from where he
scored the tying run on a wild pitch.
The South Atlantic League will take its All-Star break
Monday through Wednesday, with the All-Star game
scheduled for Tuesday night in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Legends will begin second-half play Thursday night with
the opener of a four-game series against the West Virginia
Power in Charleston. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
NATIONAL
Real or not? Royals are
contenders
June 19, 2017
By David Schoenfield/ESPN.com
http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/80488/real-ornot-royals-are-contenders-nolan-arenado-helps-mvp-case
Everyone wants to trade all the Kansas City Royals: Mike
Moustakas to the Boston Red Sox, Kelvin Herrera to the
Washington Nationals, Eric Hosmer to the New York
Yankees, Lorenzo Cain maybe to the Los Angeles Dodgers,
Jason Vargas to anywhere.
Those guys are all free agents at season's end, so when the
Royals stumbled to a 10-20 start and were still sitting at 2230 at the end of May, it made sense to view them as an
obvious seller, a chance for general manager Dayton Moore
to wheel and deal and replenish a farm system that ranks near
the bottom of the league. After two months, the Royals
simply looked like a bad team. They had the AL's worst
record, its worst offense and Danny Duffy had just been
placed on the DL with an oblique strain.
Well, welcome to the American League, circa 2017, where
one nice little stretch of baseball makes you an instant
contender. After beating the Angels 7-3 on Sunday, as
Vargas became the first pitcher in the majors to reach 10
wins, the Royals have won seven of eight and they're only
two games out of the second wild card, only 3.5 behind the
division-leading Cleveland Indians.
Of course, everybody in the AL is in the playoff race; the
Oakland Athletics, last in the American League at 31-38, are
just 4.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, the second wild
card right now with a 37-35 record. There's time for all this
to sort itself out by the end of July, but it also seems likely
that none of these second-tier AL teams are good enough to
pull away in the wild-card race, so we'll probably still have a
mass of teams hanging around .500. I would also suggest that
the Indians are much better than the Royals and more likely
to pull away to a significant lead than for the Royals to catch
them.
This all means Moore will face some tough choices at the
deadline. Do you trade all those guys or keep them and make
a run at the wild-card game, where you have a 50 percent
chance of being out of the playoffs in three hours? And even
if the Royals do somehow make that game, are they really
good enough to beat the Astros, Yankees, Indians or Red
Sox?
Further complicating matters is the new free-agent
compensation system, which is tied to the contract the player
signs with a new team and a tiered system that splits teams
into three groups (those over the luxury tax, the 15 teams that
receive the most revenue sharing and everybody else). For
the Royals, presumably one of those 15 small-market teams,
they would receive a pick at the end of the first round if they
give the player a qualifying offer and he signs a contract
worth $50 million or more; they would receive a pick at the
end of the second round if the player signs for less than $50
million.
Last year's qualifying offer was $17.2 million. The Royals
can't afford to pay all five of those guys $17.2 million, even
on one-year contracts, so then you have to play the game of
who would reject and who would accept. If you don't give
them a qualifying offer, you receive nothing in compensation
if they sign elsewhere.
Hosmer and Moustakas are young enough and good enough
that they should get $50 million deals. Vargas and Herrera,
probably not, given Vargas' age and Herrera's position and
mediocre performance (seven home runs allowed already).
Cain will be 32 next year but is having a good year and still
plays a plus center field. So I'd guess they extend offers to
Hosmer, Moustakas and Cain (and maybe hope to even resign one or two of them).
Even with this hot streak, I don't see the Royals as one of the
five best teams in the league. Vargas has been crazy-good
and likely will regress, and the rest of the rotation minus
Duffy isn't good. They've scored the third-most runs in the
AL in June, but they're still last in the AL in OBP for the
season. I don't see that recipe holding up, so I think Moore
trades Vargas and Herrera and at least one of the other three.
Did we mention the Red Sox have the worst third-base
production in the majors?
Morosi: Royals to be popular at
Deadline
Moustakas, Hosmer, Cain among players
likely to draw interest from contenders
June 19, 2017
By Jon Paul Morosi/MLB.com
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/237224594/moustakas-cainhosmer-among-kc-trade-assets/
For weeks, fans of contenders have watched the Royals from
afar and eyeballed the World Series-tested veterans their
favorite team might acquire.
Eric Hosmer. Mike Moustakas. Lorenzo Cain. Alcides
Escobar. Jason Vargas. Kelvin Herrera.
But a funny thing has happened on the way to the July 31
non-waiver Trade Deadline: The Royals have started
winning.
They'd reeled off six consecutive victories prior to Saturday's
loss in Anaheim. The streak validated an approach Kansas
City general manager Dayton Moore has professed since his
team posted the Majors' worst record in April: Why rush to
break up a team that has won so much together?
Even after that, the Royals have only a 6.7 percent chance of
reaching the playoffs entering play Sunday, according to the
FanGraphs.com simulator. A roster reboot is inevitable
between now and Opening Day 2018, and many rival
executives believe the Royals would be wise to leverage the
next six weeks to restock the farm system. Among the
players listed above, only Herrera won't be a free agent this
winter -- and he's due to hit the open market after 2018.
Moustakas, enjoying a career-best offensive year, is the most
intriguing Royal to monitor over the coming days. He could
become the subject of a bidding war between the Yankees
and Red Sox as the rivals chase the American League East
title.
The Yankees are considering upgrades at third base, where
Chase Headley is having one of the worst offensive seasons
of his career. (He's also committed the second-most errors of
any Major League third baseman this year.) Many in the
industry have expected the Yankees' improvement to come
from within, thanks to top prospect Gleyber Torres. But
Torres injured his left elbow in a Triple-A game Saturday,
halting (at least temporarily) his rapid progress through the
Minors.
Boston's need at third base is even more glaring, with the
worst OPS at the position (.565) of any team in the Majors.
Pablo Sandoval has fallen out of the everyday job, despite
having two years and $37.2 million left on his contract after
the current season ends. Headley, for the record, is under
contract for 2018 at $13 million.
If the Royals have even the faintest hope of acquiring top
prospect Rafael Devers from the Red Sox in a Moustakas
trade, their best chance of doing so is if the Yankees are
involved and increase the price.
MLB TRANSACTIONS
June 19, 2017 •.CBSSports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions
TEAM
PLAYER
TRANSACTION
Detroit
Tigers
Anibal
Sanchez
Called Up from
Minors
Traded From
Cleveland
Indians
from Blue Jays,
Jarrett Grube
cash
considerations)
Cleveland
Indians
Shawn
Armstrong
Cleveland
Indians
Giovanny
Urshela
Colorado
Rockies
Tyler
Anderson
Colorado
Rockies
Carlos Estévez
Placed on 10-
Chicago
White Sox
Miguel
González
Day DL, (Right
shoulder
Toronto (for
Called Up from
Minors
Sent to Minors
Sent to Minors,
For
Rehabilitation
Called Up from
Minors
inflammation)
Chicago
White Sox
Recalled From
James Shields Minors, Rehab
James Shields
Detroit
Tigers
Buck Farmer
Day DL, (Lower
back spasms)
Cincinnati
Reds
Jake
Buchanan
Cincinnati
Reds
Lisalverto
Bonilla
(Strained right
Acquired Off
Los
Angeles
Dodgers
Peter O'Brien
Called Up from
Los
Angeles
Dodgers
Minors
Peter O'Brien
10-Day DL,
Los
Angeles
Dodgers
Jason Wheeler
(Strained right
Los
Angeles
Dodgers
Brock Stewart
Los
Angeles
Dodgers
Josh Ravin
Waivers From
from Rangers,
Texas
Sent to Minors
Removed From
Stuart Turner
Sent to Minors
10-Day DL,
lat)
Cincinnati
Reds
Chad Qualls
Assignment
Removed From
Chicago
White Sox
Placed on 10-
Colorado
Rockies
Sent to Minors
Designated for
Assignment
hamstring)
Cincinnati
Reds
Asher
Designated for
Wojciechowski Assignment
Cincinnati
Reds
Stuart Turner
Recalled From
Minors, Rehab
Assignment
Called Up from
Minors
Sent to Minors
New York
Yankees
Kyle
Higashioka
Sent to Minors
Removed From
New York
Yankees
Aroldis
Chapman
10-Day DL, (Left
shoulder/rotator
cuff
inflammation)
New York
Yankees
Aroldis
Chapman
Pittsburgh
Pirates
Jacob
Stallings
Recalled From
Minors, Rehab
Assignment
Sent to Minors
Removed From
Pittsburgh
Pirates
Chris Stewart
10-Day DL,
(Strained left
hamstring)
Seattle
Mariners
Dillon Overton
Seattle
Mariners
Max Povse
Seattle
Mariners
Rob Whalen
Designated for
Assignment
Purchased From
Minors
Sent to Minors
Refused Minor
Texas
Rangers
Dillon Gee
League
Assignment Free Agent
Placed on 10-
Washington
Shawn Kelley
Nationals
Day DL,
(Strained right
trapezius
muscle)
Washington
A.J. Cole
Nationals
Called Up from
Minors