This will be something to follow. Questions about whether the crackdown on pitchers doctoring the baseball is making an impact. Gerrit Cole's last start the other day was similar, his spin rate on all his pitches was way down compared to average. Same thing for Corbin Burnes from the Brewers today, although he still had a dominant performance. Could be nothing, or arm fatigue, but it's a bit suspicious that some of the big name "spin rate" guys all ticked down this week.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trevor Bauer’s average four-seam fastball spin rate this season entering today: 2,835 RPM.<br><br>Bauer’s average spin rate on 18 four-seam fastballs through three innings today: 2,613 RPM.<br><br>That’s 222 RPM below average.<br><br>Each of the Braves’ three hits have come off a fastball. <a href="https://t.co/3mJRaNFoEB">pic.twitter.com/3mJRaNFoEB</a></p>&mdash; Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) <a href="https://twitter.com/jorgecastillo/status/1401603977058439171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Of course, some guys are going to cheat. Look at Houston they got away with it particularly the players involved. Didn't get slapped down or anything. Baseball loves cheaters it seems now.

Come babysit, I need a ****ing break!

This article suggests that they move Mondesi to DH. You'd miss his glove but you'd have his bat in the lineup. Plus, a good reason to let Soler walk.

https://kingsofkauffman.com/2021/06/...esi-questions/

Awesome. I took my kids to the games on Friday and Saturday. Three daughters (11, 9, and 7) and my newborn son (4 months). I taught the older daughters to keep score while we watched the game on TV on Thursday night, and they helped me keep score at both of the games we attended. They kept asking questions to confirm they were keeping score correctly. ("That's a forward K since he swung, right?") It was great. I've been trying for years to get them into sports, and I think they're finally starting to enjoy it. (I also took my oldest to her first Chiefs game last season.) When the 9-year-old woke up on Sunday morning, she said, "It's weird not being at a hotel and getting ready to go to the Royals game."

We got them Blue Crew memberships while we were there. They got cute little Royals earrings and wanted everything in the team store. They put on their Royals temporary tattoos and Blue Crew lanyards as soon as they got home. Looking forward to going to more games later this summer.

Also, they showed my baby on the Jumbotron Friday night. Everybody in our section freaked out and started yelling and cheering. It scared the crap out of the poor boy, and he started crying. The camera came back to him a few seconds later, so he was sitting there bawling his eyes out in front of the whole stadium. ROFL

Awesome Prison Bitch!

My son bought our family tickets to tonight's game in Anaheim. Sitting behind the Royals bullpen, and looking forward to watching Jackson Kowar make his debut.

Haven't been back to the Big A since the Royals tore them a big A in the 2014 playoffs.

So what can we expect to see from Kowar?

Good job Mama Hip Rockets!!

Our kids literally grew up at the K and Arrowhead Stadium. We were season ticket holders for both for over 30 years.

Any night that they weren't playing ball........we were at the Stadium! Both became collegiate athletes. One in football and one in baseball. So the time spent was much more than worth it.

I wouldn't trade a thing. Just wish that we could do it all over again.

We gave up our season tickets for both the Chiefs and the Royals 4 years ago. At 75 (nearly) years of age, it is just too much for us today due to health issues and just damned old age.

But it has been a life well spent!

Enjoy. Tonight should be fun!

What a beautiful family Mama Hip Rockets!!!

Just keep taking her dlphg9.

She will forever appreciate the time that you spend at the old ballpark with her!

Great job.

People missed the point of that post. It was a compliment on Benintendi. He's been great and everything I hoped he would be.

He went on a tear again this weekend and since that post but here is his ops by year

2016 .835
2017 .777
2018 .830
2019 .774
2021 .777

He's still in having the worst year he's capable of having, which is a testiment to the player he is. I fully expect him to OPS over .800 as he becomes more accustomed to the bigger stadium of Kaufman where he doesn't have to try park everything like he did in Boston. Guy is just now in his prime years, he should continue to rake.

Hopefully better than what we saw from Lynch.

Thanks, Coach.

Yep. It pains me because I wanted to see BWJ at 3B if possible but you gotta do it I think.

I don't think Mondesi's bat is quite good enough to provide a ton of value at DH. He needs to be a plus fielder too, which I believe he still can in CF or OF.

There's literally no way the Royals would commit to Mondesi as a DH. He's too dynamic as an athlete to not at least stick him in a lower usage defensive position like CF, LF, RF, or even 3B.

I think they do their best to keep him healthy this year - maybe try him at 3B - and then use the winter and spring training to move him to the OF full-time.

With his speed, if he can track fly balls well, he'd be an excellent CF option and provide almost as much defensive value as he can at SS.

The nice thing about CF is that, despite the heavy running load, you don't have to make a lot of quick start-stop movements. You always have time to gear down.

Making plays at the wall would be the injury concern, but you wouldn't be diving for balls and contorting like Mondesi has to do at SS.

Most guys who can play the 6 can play anywhere.

Mondesi seems to be one of those athletic guys that can play anywhere on the field at a high level. I'm sure he'd pick up CF pretty quick and be GG level out there.

I literally hate the idea of putting Mondesi at DH. It's about the dumbest thing I can think of.

Dayton on the radio pregame on Sunday said Mondesi reminds him of Lorenzo Cain especially with his injuries.

I agree. Plus, putting him at DH means putting a much worse fielder out there.

Awesome! I took my then 13 month old Son to his first game and it was a Royals vs Cubs game in Wrigley - it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in July. At that time, we had Company tickets that were about 10 rows up from the 1st base dugout. There was a walkway on our row of seats where people couldn't walk in front of you unless their seat was on that row. It was awesome, especially for a tall guy like me who could spread out.

Anyway, I had just bought my wife and I a couple of beers, and as soon as I got back, she got up to go to the bathroom. There I am - the proud Papa with my son in my lap, and sipping on a frosty cold Old Style. Up to bat for the Royals - Joe Randa. Joe hits a sky high foul ball that looks like its headed for the first base side. Yep, it's headed straight for our section. I stand up with the baby in my left arm, and I already had my beer in my right hand. As I notice the ball tracking right for me on my left side, I switch the baby to my right arm, with the beer still in my right hand, and snag the ball up high with my left hand. Holy shit! I got the ball, the baby and no spilled beer! What a moment. The crowd around me cheers, as my wife is rolling back to her seat. "What's going on?", she says. Well, the explanation, no matter how much I tempered it, didn't make her happyLMAO. She saw that as me putting her baby in the line of fire, and she was probably right. By the end of the game, she had settled down enough to take a pic with me, and my Son holding the ball. I have the ball and pic in a picture box. It's a hell of a great memory (and the Royals won :) ).

Awesome! If I was in your section I’d be compelled to buy your next round.

This is a big leaguer post^. Rep.

Royals have DFA'd Newberry to make room for Kowar.

Who?

Jackson Kowar, our starting pitcher for tonight's game. Tonight is his first big league start. He's dominated in AAA so far this year. Fastball/changeup guy.

Where’s the thread for tonight?!?!?!

Start it I'm working late tonight

I was just making one because no one else had. There you go.

I'm 0-3 so far this year.

I'm not starting another thread.

Maybe cause you spelled it "Royalys," dude!

I know. I fat fingered it and then I couldn't edit the title! :cuss:

In a few years when he gets a CP account we start correcting all the bad info you gave him.

sorry

So you must have gotten the Soler and Whit bobbleheads (I was there Sat.). Building them a strong bobblehead collection is important.

Gotta be honest, man. Those go straight to eBay.

Kowar didn’t throw his FB enough. Jeezus Sal, have him go 96 for 12 straight pitches and see where that takes you. Better than that secondary shit he wasnt getting over

Sal was really struggling to read his off speed stuff, too, which didn’t help.

Tonite was the first time I noticed shitty framing from him.

Love Salvy but tonite was tough for him too. Needs to be said.

What a ****ing way to start your major league career lol

Tried to tune in to watch Kowar and missed it. He wasn't even in the game in the 2nd inning when I turned in.

You didn't miss much.

He was overthrowing and also nibbling around the corners rather than trusting his stuff. He's got to get his breaking ball and changeup closer to the plate (and occasionally throw them for strikes) to get some swings and misses on them. It's an adjustment from AAA.

The curve looks better than it has at any point when I've seen it in the past, which is encouraging for his long-term prospects.

Yeah that was brutal. My son almost got Soler's home run...but other than that it was a long night.

His change looked nasty the couple times he was able to locate it. The bottom just drops out of that thing.

You gotta throw some bows to get that for your boy. Really make an ass of yourself.

On a different subject, why is Tony La Russa a baseball manager? He's damn near 80 years old and has multiple DUIs.

It was even fooling Salvy.

I've never seen a manager so aligned with a fanbase on physical appearance alone

None of our prospects have peed a drop so far this year. Kowar sucked and lost to a winless pitcher last night; Lynch had three ineffective starts and was sent back down. Hernendez has done squat. Isbell couldn't stick. We probably won't see Witt until next year, or as a September call up at best. Not much help from our farm system this year.

Yeah I didn't see anything that resembles starter quality pitching from Kowar last night. He kinda reminds me of Mendoza but unfortunately worse.

Oh man if only the Giants had you on board they would have been smart enough to abandon Tim Lincecum after he got ROCKED in his first career start.

I saw Mendoza one time at Fogo De Chao. He didn't eat the steak with ketchup, so that explains why he sucks.

[QUOTE=Chiefspants;15701302]Oh man if only the Giants had you on board they would have been smart enough to abandon Tim Lincecum after he got ROCKED in his first career start.[/QUOTE

It was just one night, I get that. He didn't get rocked, he threw multiple wild pitches that cost us runs. He was nowhere near ready for the Major Leagues. It was a mistake to call him up this early. Did I say we should move on? No I did not.

[QUOTE=bringbackmarty;15701323]I say this a lot, but I'll say it again: player development is not a linear thing in MLB.

If a player with a sub-1.00 ERA and WHIP at AAA over a half-dozen starts at AAA, with consistent success at lower levels of the minor, exhibiting good control and flashing two plus pitches isn't ready for a shot at the major leagues, who is?

Kowar had a rough beginning and didn't handle his debut well. That's all last night means. He could continue to struggle or he could work through his emotions and start performing to his potential.

Look over to Detroit and the trends of Tarik Skubal's season for an example. He was awful his first few starts, adjusted to MLB a bit, and now is dominating.

[QUOTE=duncan_idaho;15701342]I think fans here are less likely to give Moore lots of benefit of the doubt because nearly all of his pitching prospects have sucked. We were supposed to have pitchers in that first wave and well didn't...

This is a valid point.

Where I'm holding out is in that first wave is that many of our young arms plateaued even before AAA, not even making it to the majors or underperformed when they did a few years late. The fact that this next generation is dominating in AAA and clearly have the stuff to be dominant is very encouraging. Them setting an MLB record for their draft class is a testament to how rare this class is (with an upside to be the staff of the 2015 Mets). If the worst case scenario is that we end up getting two #3 starters and two dominant bullpen arms, we'll be in great shape for the immediate future.

I get that. Especially if they're not paying close enough attention to be aware of the drastic difference in draft strategy and development approach from the 2010 class and the more recent groups.

They're drafting different types of players (More advanced college guys rather than HS guys with projectability and upside). They're developing them entirely differently (no square peg/round hole stuff anymore. No trying to hammer every pitcher into being a fastball/curve/changeup guy).

I’ll push back on this.

Our 2011 prospect list was *loaded* with quality pitching. Just look at this list:


4. Danny Duffy
5. Mike Monty
6. John Lamb
7. Jake Odorizzi
8. Jeremy Jeffress
9. Chris Dwyer
13 Louis Coleman
14. Aaron Crow
25. Will Smith
27. YORDANO VENTURA
others: Greg Holland


I defy anyone to find me another system that stacked with future MLB pitching talent.

https://www.minorleagueball.com/2010...pects-for-2011

[QUOTE=duncan_idaho;15701378]So you're saying they abandoned the short-lived experiment of drafting every high school pitcher in Indianapolis.

There are still lots of busts in there, but things wouldn't look nearly as bad if Yordano was still with us. That almost gets ignored sometimes. A young quality starting pitcher who was under team control.

Even with a group like we have now, you're basically hoping to find 1 or 2 front line starters. If you end up with the 91 Braves or 15 Mets you've basically lucked out.

Yeah. That area scout is also not employed any longer.

Whenever I think about that draft, I think about the Moneyball scene with the scouts where the old scouts are all saying cliche things about players, except Moore and his executive team listen to them and take Russell and Watson.

In my mind, that's also the guy that convinced them to take Christian Colon instead of Chris Sale. ROFL

Wonder if he’s the same scout who brought us Gary Thurman, our top pick (Indianapolis North HS) in 1984 and top prospect a few years in BBA, who totally flamed out as a big leaguer

Ventura was the key to the whole thing. He is more than likely the ace of the staff and top 10 MLB pitcher by now. Duffy is your classic #3 with #2 stuff.

Royals Express Faith In Kowar After Debut

Hopefully, this means they'll give him some more opportunities.

https://www.mlb.com/news/jackson-kow...s-in-mlb-debut

I've been listening to Columbia sports talk radio this afternoon - the host is MU's baseball play by play guy. He said Kowar had the better stuff in college than Singer. Said he always impressed him more when they played. Also said Asa Lacy was the one who was better than both.

M’s demoted Kelenic (#3 prospect in MLB) back to Tacoma today.

He was in a not-so-good 0-39 skid.

Proof that the Pirates are allergic to scoring runs.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ke&#39;Bryan Hayes gets a home run called back because he forgot to step on first. <a href="https://t.co/0GFnKy8itW">pic.twitter.com/0GFnKy8itW</a></p>&mdash; Justin Groc (@jgroc) <a href="https://twitter.com/jgroc/status/1402412682930688007?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Riley Pint retired today at age 23. Never made it past A ball.

He was a local kid, no? Blue Valley system?

Sucks. Doesn't look like MLB material to me. - Some M's fan somewhere.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bobby Witt Jr. Rinse, repeat. <a href="https://t.co/yzrAatlJzv">pic.twitter.com/yzrAatlJzv</a></p>&mdash; Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) <a href="https://twitter.com/alec_lewis/status/1402428866174533636?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Everyone should dominate pro sports from day 1 like Patrick Mahomes. Ah....um.....I guess he waited a year. But also, he’s like the 1 exception in KC history. But our starters suck. / Gblowfish



In all seriousness, I have zero doubts on all 4 Royals pitching draftees fro. 2017. None. They’re all good and I’m normally Negative Nancy. Kowar is a Gubizca clone

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Well...<br><br>Bobby Witt Jr. mashes one 430 feet to left field but the home plate umpire says he didn’t touch home plate after circling the bases...<br><br>������<br><br>So this goes down as a really, really long triple. <a href="https://t.co/mrYKnRSnGh">pic.twitter.com/mrYKnRSnGh</a></p>&mdash; NW Arkansas Naturals (@nwanaturals) <a href="https://twitter.com/nwanaturals/status/1402441494464696323?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Bobby Witt Jr with 2 HRs and one didn't count cuz the **** ump said he missed the plate.

If Bubic gets that walk rate down he could be ace material.

That umpire looked like he was annoyed With danced on the plate so he decided to be a dick.

From that angle it looks like he touched it. I also don't get why the ump is dusting off the plate if he didn't think Witt touched it?

I thought it was a joke after the Pirates miss...