Series win in Sandy Diego. On to Chicago

If there's one team I'd like the Royals to knock their ****ing dicks in the dirt, it's the White Sox. I ****ing hate the White Sox.

Rep.

My first season as a fan I have a vivid memory of watching that white trash father and son attack our pitching coach.

I have wanted nothing but suffering for their fandom since. The La Russa era was great fun in that regard!

My wife was at the game with some co-workers behind the 1st base dugout when that went down

RIP Yo

https://www.royalsreview.com/2023/5/...for-the-royals
Bobby Witt’s fielding did a 180
One of the most alarming outcomes from 2022 was Bobby Witt Jr.’s fielding ability, or should we say, lack of fielding ability. Witt was the worst defensive shortstop in Major League Baseball last year, and he was better at third base but only somewhat.

To be sure, Witt’s problems at the plate are a bigger deal, as Witt has doubled and tripled down on his “be Salvador Perez but without Salvy’s bat control and hit tool” approach, which. Not good! But his defense was still important. Put it this way: Witt has regressed at the plate but is pacing to be more valuable than last year. That’s because he has been just a way better defender.

If you’ve been here for a while, you know I like to average out multiple defensive stats and prorate them per 1000 innings (a full defensive season at one position). Using Defensive Runs Saved, Ultimate Zone Rating, and Runs Above Average—together or individually—the improvement Witt has shown is astounding.

Bobby Witt’s Fielding Improvements at SS
Stat 2022 2023 Improvement
DRS -18 -1 17
UZR -6.5 -0.3 6.2
RAA -7 4 11
AVGDef -10.5 0.9 11.4
AVGDef/1000 -12.7 2.7 15.4

That last stat is the big one—Witt has improved by 15.4 defensive runs per 1000 innings so far this year. That is...a lot. For context, that is roughly on average what UZR and DRS said Lorenzo Cain was worth defensively in the 2013-2015 years. This is why Witt is pacing for a 3.5 WAR season even though his offense has regressed: the difference between “good shortstop” and “awful, unplayably bad shortstop” is immense. And if he’s this good defensively moving forward, that puts the offensive bar for him to be an All-Star much lower (while also raising his ceiling that much more).

That's not as impressive as they're trying to make it seem. He's still at negative numbers. This just means that he's not completely awful like last year.

What's the story behind this? I don't remember

Eaton hit a ball back to Yordano, and Yo was chirping at Eaton as he ran to 1B. As soon as Eaton was out, he started to come after Yo. Benches cleared and that was that. Shit between the Sox and R's had been brewing LONG before that incident.

He's not at negative numbers overall. He is slightly below average on range/defensive runs saved but is tracking to put up an overall positive number on defense per 1000 innings.

That said, he's so good at tracking the ball in the air and so fast that I can't see a way he's NOT a standout, plus-plus CF. I'd be looking for that move even if he finishes as a just-above-average SS overall this year.

Isn't he -1 in defensive runs saved and -0.3 in UZR.

No Royals on Ballys again?

No game tonight

lol...I just assumed there was