Taylor Clarke has returned to his normal self

lol

did we get him for Mondesi? tough to say who won that trade

Drew Waters having himself a game tonight

git some!

That was Josh Taylor I think. Boston won that trade by a mile and I don’t think Mondesi ever plays for them.

yep. uncanny, poor guy has struggled with recovery from surgery apparently and is shut down. no timetable

he got hurt last year in like the 4th game iirc

Aroldis Maximus Gas Canisius

That's a winner!

Amazing win. Royals had 2.5 times more losses than wins and Rays have 2x more wins than losses. Record setting pitcher handles that lineup. Drew Waters has amazing game. Garcia looks like ROY candidate.

Melendez is the most graceful clumsy ass ball player ever.

So is Garcia good? Because I've seen him a couple times now and I think he might actually be good.

He's a throwback player; solid bat to ball skills and that standard pull power only sort of thing where he's only going to really blast it if you put it in his wheelhouse. But he uses his legs well and seems to have a plan on the bases.

He might actually be pretty damn good. Seems to have a 2b profile offensively but if you can put enough power around him (the Royals certainly haven't) he can be a REALLY nice complementary player even at 3b.

That's a solid little player.

He might grow into a slight bit more power as he gets older, but he's a guy with a low K rate, high contact rate, AND a good walk rate (about an 11 percent walk rate in the minors, currently about 7.5 percent in the majors). I'd expect the walk rate to tick up a bit as he gets more MLB experience, especially if he starts to hit the ball with a little more authority.

If he ends up at SS, it's an offensive profile that fits nicely. I think he's their best current defensive option at that spot.

I was thinking the same thing - why aren't they playing him at SS and Witt at 3b?

Are they just hell-bent on making Witt their SS long-term?

And the walk rate could improve a bit as he gets more comfortable but it won't if he can't develop a little more gap to gap power, IMO. With his present power, I think pitchers may start to challenge him a bit more and dare him to beat them rather than put him on the bases where they know he's gonna cause problems.

In the minors there are plenty of pitchers who just CAN'T avoid walking someone - their command sucks. In the bigs, 90% of the guys at that level can absolutely avoid walking you if they feel so inclined. And can usually at least get it in the outer 1/3 of the zone to keep it out of his power wheelhouse.

If he were to develop 15 HR/30 2b power potential and the ability to drive it to all fields, he could be a real problem in the 1/2 spots in the order.

They showed a stat last night that he is like top 2-3 in MLB in total WAR since his callup.

Just seems to make the play in the field or on the bases and has a decent eye and nice swing path.

Garcia after this year should move to SS, Loftin can come up and play 3rd time to see if Witt can be a CFer.