Royals
35-38, third in AL Central, 6-1/2 games back
So much for the impact of George Brett as interim hitting coach.
The Royals are 14-9 since Brett and Pedro Grifol replaced Jack Maloof and Andre David as the team’s hitting instructors, as opposed to 21-29 before the change. But the team is actually scoring fewer runs, dropping from 3.98 to 3.74 per game.
Pitching and defense are the primary reasons the Royals are near .500. Yet, even the pitching is something of a mirage.
While the team leads the American League in ERA, it is only 11th in Fielding Independent Pitching, which measures the effectiveness of pitchers based on results that do not involve fielders. What’s more, the Royals’ pitchers have the league’s sixth lowest strikeout rate, and their opponents’ batting average on balls in play is the fifth lowest.
In other words, they’re getting lucky.
Some rival executives criticized the Royals’ blockbuster with the Rays as a reach, reasoning that the Royals were not good enough to sacrifice a prospect such as Wil Myers in a win-now deal.
I disagreed with that assessment initially, but not now. I’m skeptical that the Royals can catch the Indians, much less the Tigers.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/c...-season-062313