Moose’s slump

In Wednesday morning’s Kansas City Star, Mike Moustakas said he thought his .158 batting average was the result of getting out on his front foot too soon. Ned Yost called it "drifting" and here’s what that means: when a hitter swings the bat, his weight shifts from back to front. If the weight shift comes too soon, the hitter has nothing behind his swing when it’s time to make contact with the ball.

The other thing that can happen is a backside collapse. Picture a stack of children’s blocks on a table. Now imagine quickly pulling the bottom block toward you; the top block would fall away from you—that’s similar to what happens to a hitter’s swing. The hitter moves to his front foot too soon and the backside—the barrel of the bat—collapses.

Now the hitter has a loop in his swing and he’s going to have a hard time keeping the barrel above a pitch up in the zone. Check out Mike’s "Hot Zones" on the ESPN website and you’ll see he’s not hitting pitches at the top of the strike zone. If his bat head is collapsing and looping—and nobody’s told me that, but they’ve been on the road for about six months so I’m having to wing it—that would also explain why Mike’s hitting weak pop flies: he’s under the ball.

At times it looked like the Tigers were attacking Mike up in the zone and until he can stay on top of those pitches, they’ll keep doing it.



http://www.kansascity.com/2013/04/24...-mattered.html

Hosmer seems to be doing pretty well so far batting consistently higher in the lineup.

Ok Moose yeah whatever...go to Omaha to work it out

I'm not mad at Moose, I know he's young and trying to find himself. If my memory serves, he had a good spring, yes? I'm optimistic that he'll turn things around.

What pisses me off is Frenchy, with a total lack of discretionary batting and the swing of a little leaguer. Every time he's up to bat, GMDM kicks me in the nuts. All I do is cuss when he's on the TV screen.

Great to hear. Now get your ass to Omaha and work it out.

Moose and Frenchy batting back to back should be criminal.

When we were discussing it the other day, I was of the mindset that you give him through the weekend to show signs of life/turning it around.

Wouldn't surprise me if they rest him today and give him one more shot against the Indians this weekend.

As for who fills in... I imagine it would be some combination of Miguel Tejada and Elliott Johnson. Johnson gives you pretty elite defense at 3B. Tejada gives you a better bat, at least against LHP.

Anthony Seratelli at Omaha is an interesting guy. He's kind of an IF version of Daniel Nava for the Red Sox. Older, switch hitting guy who never has been an elite prospect but who has hit a lot through his minor league career.

He's also versatile enough that he could play some 2B or OF, which gives Yost a little more flex than just promoting David Lough (though he probably deserves it, you can't play him everyday).

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/...k-mlb-managers

• Got into an interesting debate recently with an American League executive who was extolling the impact James Shields has made on the Royals. He took a position I didn't see coming: If he had a choice of which starter he'd give a nine-figure contract to -- Shields or Zack Greinke -- he'd take … (wait for it) … Shields.

"Greinke's stuff is a little better," he said. "And on a given day, he can rise to the occasion and just dominate. But there are other days where he almost seems a little disinterested. You never have to worry about that with Shields. He's out there for one reason -- to beat you. And then there's the impact he has on a club on a daily basis. That's one thing about Greinke. He has great stuff. But he gives you none of that."

• Shields has said he's open to sticking around in Kansas City long-term. But if he's a $100 million deal waiting to happen, it's hard to find anyone who thinks the Royals could afford that contract.

Send Moose down, bring up Seratelli and give him a shot. Maybe we luck into another Aviles for a month while Moose finds himself. Like Archie said, I'm not mad at Moose. I'd hate to lose him to AAA....I think he brings the right attitude and work ethic (by all reports) to be a leader. But, at some point, you have to perform. He knows better than anyone that he's killing the team; give him a break for a few weeks and let him find the love of the game again.

Yea, Grienke doest appear to have that killer instinct.

He didnt impress me much in the playoffs with the Brewers.

Watching Moose play this terrible in key spots is the most frustrating thing of the year. At the point I can't imagine they are helping anybody by sending him out there to get dominated night after night.

My friends and I call Greinke "Zack Nebraska."

The San Diego Padres call him "Rain Man.'

This isn't Royals, but a fantastic GIF. All of Yu Darvish's pitches at once. Wicked.

http://i.minus.com/i3SXAH4AAxtWS.gif

That's pretty bad ass.

That's neat. Do they have that for other pitchers?