Daily Clips

July11, 2017

LOCAL

Moose out early, but says 1st Derby 'lot of fun'

Edged by Twins' Sano in Round 1, Royals All-Star raves about experience

July 11, 2017By Jordan Bastian/MLB.com

Vargas leads ASG trio: Tonight, 6:30 CT, FOX

Royals lefty joined by Perez, Moustakas in Miami

July 11, 2017By Joe Posnanski/MLB.com

Royals’ Mike Moustakas on his Home Run Derby strategy: ‘Just swing for the fences’

June 11, 2017By Sam Mellinger/KC Star

That time Mike Moustakas hit off Roger Clemens

July 11, 2017By Sam Mellinger/KC Star

Royals’ Jason Vargas doing something no ballplayer has done in decades

July 11, 2017By Sam Mellinger/KC Star

MINORS

Ray's quality start not enough in rubber match loss

July 11, 2017Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Rocks Round Out Road Trip with Win

Two-Out Hits Prove To Be The Difference for Rocks

July 11, 2017Wilmington Blue Rocks

Legends comeback falls short in 8-7 loss

July 11, 2017Lexington Legends

Braves Beat Royals on Inside-The-Park Homer

Matias homers and drives in two in 4-3 loss

July 11, 2017By Matt Krause/Burlington Royals

MLB TRANSACTIONS
July 11, 2017 •.CBSSports.com

LOCAL

Moose out early, but says 1st Derby 'lot of fun'

Edged by Twins' Sano in Round 1, Royals All-Star raves about experience

July 11, 2017By Jordan Bastian/MLB.com

The Marlins Park crowd did not roar the loudest when Mike Moustakas' name was announced before Monday night's T-Mobile Home Run Derby. That reaction was reserved for hometown favorite Giancarlo Stanton, whose prodigious power displays have been dropping jaws in Miami for years now.

No, Moustakas was not the marquee name in the annual All-Star event, but the Royals' third baseman still put on a show. Moustakes launched 10 homers in the opening round, which was the most in Home Run Derby history for a Kansas City player, but not enough to advance. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge took home the championship, besting Twins slugger Miguel Sano in the final round.

By the end of Moustakas' round, the crowd was roaring with every swing.

"That was one of the most fun things I've ever done," Moustakas said "Adrenaline was building, everything, the whole time. A lot of fun. [It was] cool to be out there, cool to hear the fans."

In the bracket format for this year's Derby, Moustakas was the No. 4 seed, and put up against Sano (No. 5). The Twins third baseman blasted 11 homers in the opening round, sending the bulk of his shots to deep left field. That put pressure on Moustakas, who came seconds away from matching Sano's output.

"He did a great job. He fought," said Sano, who then defeated Gary Sanchez of the Yankees in the second round. "Everybody did a great job. Everybody worked hard and they competed. It was a great moment for us."

Moustakas finished one home run behind Sano, with his final swing resulting in a low line drive that fell just short of the right-field wall. The crowd let out a collective groan as the buzzer went off, indicating that Moustakas' four minutes had expired.

According to Statcast™, Moustakas' 10th home run was his hardest hit at 114 mph. His longest was his sixth blast, which traveled a projected 442 feet and dropped midway up the second deck beyond right field.

That showing did not help Moustakas advance, but it was the best Derby performance by a Royal in the event's history. Bo Jackson hit only one homer in the 1989 Derby in Anaheim and Danny Tartabull launched two in the '91 Derby in Toronto.

This season, Moustakas has enjoyed a breakout campaign in terms of power production. The third baseman has already established a career best with 25 homers, and his .559 slugging percentage and .863 OPS are both on target to be personal highs. Before this year, Moustakas averaged one homer per 33.6 plate appearances in his first six seasons. He has seen that rate spike to 13.2 this year (329 PA).

"What he did was unbelievable," Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez said. "It was his first time here, so that was pretty good for him. I feel great for him. That last swing came pretty close. He did a tremendous job tonight."

On Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT, tune in to the 2017 All-Star Game presented by Mastercard live on FOX, and during the game visit MLB.com to submit your choice for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet via the 2017 MLB All-Star Game MVP Vote. The 88th All-Star Game, in Miami, will be televised nationally by FOX, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS, and worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries via MLB International's independent feed. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB.com, MLB Network and SiriusXM will also provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, please visit allstargame.com.

Vargas leads ASG trio: Tonight, 6:30 CT, FOX

Royals lefty joined by Perez, Moustakas in Miami

July 11, 2017By Joe Posnanski/MLB.com

Jason Vargas insists he isn't doing anything different. He has not developed a new pitch. He hasn't added any velocity to his 87-mph fastball. He hasn't dramatically altered his pitching patterns (he might throw a few more curveballs, but that's about it).

And yet here he is at age 34 having the season of his life, leading the American League in wins, ERA and ERA+, leading the Royals back into contention after a rough start and being one of three Royals selected for tonight's 88th All-Star Game presented by Mastercard (6:30 CT on FOX).

"He has been absolutely fantastic," another one of those All-Star selections, third baseman Mike Moustakas, said. "He commands all his pitches, not just his fastball, throws it in and out of the zone at will. And he just has so much confidence."

Vargas is 12-3 with a 2.62 ERA, and the league is slugging just .373 against him, a career low.

Everything with Vargas is a career low or a career high. He has been kicking around the big leagues for a dozen years, going back to his 2005 debut with the Florida Marlins. He has been traded three times since, been a free agent and undergone Tommy John surgery. He threw just 12 big league innings in 2016; this did not seem like a year for him to suddenly emerge as a star.

But he has been spectacular from the beginning. In his first start against that ferocious Houston offense, he allowed just one run. He did not allow a run in his next two starts. And other than one rough game against the New York Yankees, it has been like that all season.

"I remember having a feeling in the beginning," he said, "when it seemed like every pitch I threw was right on the corner or just missed the barrel. I remember thinking, 'I should probably take a minute to appreciate this because this sort of thing doesn't last.'"

It has lasted. Vargas said part of the reason might be that when he was rehabbing after Tommy John surgery, he spent a lot of time working on things in bullpen sessions.

"I wouldn't have done that if not for the injury," he said. "Maybe that helped me so that I didn't fall into any bad habits."

And, he added, there's confidence: The more often you see hitters foul off mistakes rather than rifle them into the outfield, the more often you seen your pitches graze the corner exactly as planned, and the more confident you feel throwing those pitches again.

"I'd love to give you a clear answer about what's different," Vargas said. "But it just isn't anything simple. I feel like I'm pitching like I pitch; I can't really reinvent myself. I can't just become an overpowering pitcher. I think I'm just pitching better in key situations.

"He is like [Astros ace Dallas Keuchel]," Royals catcher and third All-Star Salvador Perez said. "He doesn't make many mistakes. He throws the ball down in the zone, down in the zone, and you wait for him to make a mistake, and it doesn't happen. And he competes like Keuchel."

"It's fun to play behind him," Moustakas said. "He pitches fast, he challenges hitters, he throws strikes. … Sometimes if a guy is struggling with his command, throwing a lot of pitches, working slow, it's easy to get back on your heels. You shouldn't do that, you should be ready for every pitch. And we are. But it's really fun behind Jason. He's awesome."

Tonight at 6:30 ET, tune in to the 2017 All-Star Game presented by Mastercard live on FOX, and during the game visit MLB.com to submit your choice for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet via the 2017 MLB All-Star Game MVP Vote. The 88th All-Star Game, in Miami, will be televised nationally by FOX, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS, and worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries via MLB International's independent feed. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB.com, MLB Network and SiriusXM will also provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, please visit allstargame.com.

Royals’ Mike Moustakas on his Home Run Derby strategy: ‘Just swing for the fences’

June 11, 2017By Sam Mellinger/KC Star

Some 100,000 online brackets were filled out for Monday night’s Home Run Derby, and if the questions here in the hours leading up to the event were any indication, some 99,994 had Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton winning.

Let’s leave one spot open for a close family member of the other six contestants, including the Royals’ Mike Moustakas.

“I don’t know, man,” he said, laughing. “I don’t pay attention to that.”

Moustakas is tied for fifth in baseball and third in the American League with 25 home runs. That’s already his career high, and more than any Royals hitter has had before the All-Star break. He’s on pace for 47 home runs, which would clear Steve Balboni’s single-season franchise record of 36 sometime in August.

On Monday, Moustakas will have a friend from Miami throw to him. He was vague in who the guy is, but he apparently holds a reputation in local circles for a reliably straight four-seamer.

“My guy Mike,” he said. “He’s awesome. He’s got it dialed in for me. He’s a great dude, throws a good ball, so if anything bad happens it’s definitely my fault.”

Moustakas came up one home run short in the first round, losing 11-10 to Minnesota’s Miguel Sano.

Such a disproportionate amount of attention in the Home Run Derby is on the Yankees’ Judge and Marlins’ Stanton that Stanton was left momentarily speechless at what must have felt like the thousandth time he’d been asked about Judge.

“I don’t know what more I can say,” he said. “He’s built like me, it should be fun.”

But Moustakas is a pure power hitter, too, hitting professional baseball after setting a California high school record for home runs that still stands today.

He has a short, quick, simple and compact swing that could be a good fit for a ballpark that’s shorter to right field than left.

“Just swing for the fences, that’s the name of the game,” he said. “I’m not going to try to do any shift beaters, anything like that. Just hit a few homers and see what happens.”

That time Mike Moustakas hit off Roger Clemens

July 11, 2017By Sam Mellinger/KC Star

The last time Mike Moustakas was in a home run derby he hit against Roger Clemens and, well, wait a quick minute. That can’t be right. Let’s try this again.

Ahem.

The last time Mike Moustakas was in a home run derby he hit against Roger Clemens and, c’mon — Is that right?

“Yeah, Roger Clemens,” Moustakas said. “That was a tough one for the boys. It didn’t go well, I’ll tell you that.”

To explain, quickly: this was in Class A ball, and Clemens’ son was competing, so his old man served as everyone’s pitcher. Moustakas laughs at the memory, saying Clemens wasn’t trying to get anyone out, it’s just what must have come naturally to him.

This, you will understand, was much different.

Moustakas was in MLB’s Home Run Derby, perhaps the signature event during All-Star week, in a full Marlins Park and in front of a national television audience Monday night. He got to pick his own pitcher this time, so Moustakas chose Mike Tosar, a former college second baseman who now works with professionals and is known locally for a reliably straight four-seamer.

“That was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done,” Moustakas said. “Adrenaline was building, everything, the whole time. Lot of fun. Cool to be out there, cool to hear the fans, everything about it.”

He lost to the Twins’ Miguel Sano 11-10 in the first round, the first man eliminated in a format that gives hitters four minutes to swing with one timeout and some bonus time based on long home runs.

Sano went first, and Moustakas hit his 10th homer with about 45 seconds left. He couldn’t get the 11th, tossing his bat and catching it in a bit of frustration after the horn blew.

It looked like four or five seconds ran off after he called a timeout about halfway through his round. Nobody can know whether that would’ve made a difference, obviously.

But combined with Sano earning bonus time that Moustakas didn’t, it meant he lost to a man who had significantly more swings.

Whether he noticed or not, Moustakas didn’t appear bothered when asked about it.

“It’s all good, man,” he said. “It was fun, regardless of the outcome. I had a great time. No matter what happened, it was great.”

Moustakas had said his strategy was to “swing for the fences,” which is typical of his preference to keep things as simple as possible.

One interesting thing about his showing, though: he seemed to hit more line drives than most of the other contestants.

Moustakas has 25 homers — already a career high, the most ever by a Royals player before the All-Star break, and on pace for around 47. The explanation is complicated, and nuanced, involving as much the approach as the swing.

But the swing is different, too: more compact, quick, powerful, and built with a clear desire to get the ball in the air.

“Find the outfield grass, that’s what me and Dale (Sveum, the Royals’ hitting coach) always talk about,” Moustakas said. “For a guy like me, if it’s a grounder to the right side, that’s usually a timeout.”

This will all play out, and there is reason to believe that the idea of sluggers slumping after the derby is either a myth or logically explained by regression to the mean.

But if you’re a Royals fan and worried about that, maybe the line drives can ease your mind. Because it did not appear that Moustakas changed his swing much for the derby.

After all, what he does the rest of the season is far more important than an exhibition event.

Even if it was nice to swing off someone other than Clemens.

Royals’ Jason Vargas doing something no ballplayer has done in decades

July 11, 2017By Sam Mellinger/KC Star

Two World Series and a parade ago feels like a lifetime removed from the days when the response to anything the Royals did was snark first and ask questions later. The offseason between 2013 and 2014 may have been the peak.

You remember that, right? General manager Dayton Moore said the franchise’s first winning record in a decade felt like winning the World Series “in a small way,” and even though he had a nuanced and important point, many Royals fans pointed and laughed like it was junior high school and he had toilet paper stuck to his shoe.

That was also the offseason the Royals sent out a press release for what they called “a major baseball announcement,” and it’s unclear what anyone expected, but when the announcement became a four-year and $32 million contract for Jason Vargas you’d have thought the club spit in people’s faces.

It’s funny to think about now. The Royals haven’t had a losing season since, are competing for what would be their third postseason in four years, and Vargas is one of the best pitchers in baseball — his 12 wins and 2.62 ERA are best in the American League.

“Spectacular,” Moore said. “More than we certainly could expect.”

More than anyone could’ve expected, really, and the story gets better the more you look into it.

For starters: Vargas is pacing for a season unlike any in big-league history dating back to at least 1969, when the mound was lowered to create more offense.

He is 34 years old, and at the moment his ERA is more than a full run better than his previous career best. No starting pitcher has ever done that — a breakout this extreme, with a season this good, this late in his career.