Matt Quatraro talks about why he pulled Noah Cameron on Sunday after five innings.
“He was at 83 pitches and he is on regular rest,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He’s had a pretty good workload and they were right in the middle of their order, with three or four righties in a row. And we had a really rested bullpen of (John) Schreiber, (Angel) Zerpa, (Lucas) Erceg and (Carlos Estévez).”
David Lesky thinks it may be time for a change at hitting coach.
I don’t know who the answer is. I’ve heard from some that Drew Saylor is better at connecting with the current group of players, so maybe he comes up from the development system. That said, the development system isn’t exactly a feather in the cap right now in terms of bats. There are success stories at least, but they continue to struggle to develop bats. Maybe it’s someone from the outside who works with players outside of organizations. Maybe it’s putting Mike Sweeney in the dugout. It’s hard to find a great hitting coach in June. The bigger question is how do they overhaul this in the winter, but they have to get to the winter first.
Craig Brown digs into the offensive ineptitude.
The Royals have come to the plate 674 times with runners in scoring position this season. That is, believe it or not, right at the league average when it comes to measuring opportunity. However, they have scored just 176 times once runners are in scoring position. By comparison, the Texas Rangers have plated 179 runners from scoring position, but they have done so in almost 90 fewer plate appearances.
The Royals offense is an exercise in inefficiency.
Jay Jaffe at Fangraphs writes about the Cole Ragans injury.
Our two pitch modeling systems show that Ragans’ stuff has fallen off a little bit relative to last year; they both agree that his four-seam, changeup, and slider are still better than average to some degree but differ on the quality of the other two offerings. Though his average four-seam velocity of 95.3 mph is just an eyelash below last year’s, his other pitches have lost a bit more speed. His slider is getting about three inches more vertical drop, and it’s down nearly one full grade on the 20–80 scouting scale according to PitchingBot, as is his changeup:
Buster Olney writes about seven executives under pressure this summer, including J.J. Picollo.
But Cole Ragans is out indefinitely because of a strained shoulder, and Lugo has an opt-out on his deal after this season — and at 35 years old, it makes sense for him to take advantage of his leverage. Maybe that’s a contract extension with the Royals, or maybe that’s testing free agency. If the Royals’ recent malaise takes root, Lugo would be coveted in the trade market.
Bobby Witt Jr. is second in All-Star balloting at shortstop in the first update.
The Tigers claim former Royals pitcher Carlos Hernandez off waivers
Executives are stunned by the Rafael Devers trade.
The Red Sox were worried Devers’ stubbornness would be a poor example for younger players.
Three other teams inquired about Devers before he went to San Francisco.
Boston’s front office may be in disarray.
The Red Sox have not fared well when dealing their big stars.
Boston outfielder Roman Anthony hits his first MLB home run.
Giancarlo Stanton made his season debut for the Yankees.
Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter reports to federal prison.
Arkansas’ Gage Wood strikes out 19 in the first College World Series no-hitter in 65 years.
Former Mets reliever Ron Taylor dies at age 87.
What would trade packages for Kevin Durant look like?
Why are so many 2025 NFL draft picks still unsigned?
What’s the purpose of dreaming?
Scientists account for the missing “ordinary” matter in the universe.
What are the most frequently spoken languages in the U.S. other than English and Spanish?
Your song of the day is Barenaked Ladies with One Week.
