Royals Rumblings - News for October 1, 2022

Oct 1, 2022 - 2:00 PM

Jake Mailhot at Fangraphs writes how Brady Singer has been a bright spot in pitching development for the Royals.

When he needs a swing-and-miss, Singer turns to his slider. That pitch has always been a weapon for him and its whiff rate currently sits at a career-high 33.7%. The biggest difference with his breaking ball is where he’s locating it. He’s throwing his slider in the zone far more often this year (48.4% of the time, up from 44.6% last year), and despite catching more of the plate, the pitch has been as effective as ever. In the zone, opposing batters are still whiffing 19.9% of the time they swing at the pitch, the highest in-zone whiff rate of Singer’s career and well above league average for the pitch type.

David Lesky at Inside the Crown isn’t concerned about the offensive woes in September.

A 2023 lineup that includes the four power guys plus players like Waters and Pratto, Michael Massey (who hasn’t shown huge power in the majors but showed he can impact the ball in the minors), Nate Eaton and maybe a guy like Tyler Gentry moving forward should be able to plug some gaps. I also don’t mean to use the schedule as an excuse, but young players in September are notorious for slowing down and the vast majority of this Royals lineup is young players. The hope is that they’ve learned how to deal with the full season of baseball, but I guess we won’t know that until next season.

Jon Heyman writes about teams that may be looking for a change at manager.

Mike Matheny was hired by Dayton Moore, who’s now gone. With players hoping for a change, it’s hard to imagine he’ll be back.

Ken Rosenthal considers some options if Matheny goes.

Sherman’s choice of general manager J.J. Picollo to replace Moore would seem to suggest the new owner values stability. Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol would be a leading candidate to replace Matheny, if the team again wanted to stay in-house. Sherman, though, clearly wants the team to think as progressively as the Al Central champion Guardians, for whom he previously was a minority investor. Someone like Quatraro, who was Cleveland’s hitting coach from 2014 to 2016 before joining the Rays as third base and then bench coach, would appear a logical fit.

A look at the top 50 international prospects for 2023, with the Royals attached to pitcher Marwys Jorge.

Hall of Fame Cardinals writer Rick Hummel will retire.

Travis Sawchik writes about career minor leaguers and when it’s time to walk away from the game.

The Braves sign pitcher Charlie Morton to a one-year extension.

Where could Aaron Judge land in free agency?

The pitch clock cut minor league game times by 25 minutes.

Baseball America has the minor league leaders in statistical categories.

Documents show the Orioles plan to sign a lease committing to Baltimore.

Trevor Bauer’s defamation suit against his accuser could get tossed out.

The Kansas City Star is getting criticism for a tweet promoting a letter to the editor criticizing Patrick Mahomes.

How Red Bull’s Max Verstappen can clinch his second-straight F1 world title in Singapore.

Why are ad sales slumping?

Has the Zodiac Killer mystery been solved again?

A small town in Alaska is home to the world’s first hammer museum.

Your song of the day is The Statler Brothers with Flowers on the Wall.