Daily Clips
June 7, 2018
LOCAL
Royals' Draft adds polished pitching to system
KC pairs college arms with existing crop of position players
June 6, 2018By Jordan Wolf/MLB.com
Barlow, Royals stung by Angels' late homers
June 7, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
KC trades Jay to Arizona for 2 pitching prospects
June 6, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
Son of Royals' assistant GM drafted by Mets
June 6, 2018By Jordan Wolf/MLB.com
Alex Gordon's RBI hits not enough for Royals as Angels sweep series
June 7, 2018By Maria Torres/KC Star
Here's how the Royals wrapped up the 2018 MLB Draft
June 6, 2018By Maria Torres/KC Star
Royals trade Jon Jay to Arizona for two minor-league pitchers
June 6, 2018By Maria Torres/KC Star
Royals VP’s son among Kansas City ties on final day of MLB draft
June 6, 2018By Shaun Goodwin/KC Star
FiveThirtyEight writer says Brewers are using 2015 Royals' formula for winning
June 6, 2018By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
Why don't Royals hitters fare better against The Shift? Their hitting coach explains
June 6, 2018By Lee Judge/KC Star
FSKC's Rex Hudler talked on air about times he has walked into a pole. Yep, plural.
June 6, 2018By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
'A pure gamble.' Here is the Angels' steal of home in 1-0 win over Royals
June 6, 2018By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
‘They know this happens’: Royals brace for more trades as losing streak hits four
June 7, 2018By Rustin Dodd/The Athletic
Royals send outfielder Jon Jay to Arizona for two pitchers, and the only question is ‘Who’s next?’
June 7, 2018By Rustin Dodd/The Athletic
MINORS
Chihuahuas Topple Chasers 3-2
Dziedzic throws quality outing, Herrera blasts 1st HR with Omaha
June 6, 2018By Andrew Green/Omaha Storm Chasers
Naturals even series with 8-6 win
Elier Hernandez goes 3-for-4 with the game-winning two-run single in the victory over Springfield
June 6, 2018By NW Arkansas Naturals
Late Inning Heroics Earn Rocks Doubleheader Sweep
Offense Highlights Twinbill
June 6, 2018By Wilmington Blue Rocks
NATIONAL
Ohtani exits after four innings with finger blister
Angels' phenom removed while warming up for fifth vs. Royals
June 7, 2018By Maria Guardado/MLB.com
Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst dies at 95; he was 'Mr. Cardinal'
June 6, 2018By Rick Hummel/St. Louis Post-Dispatch
This is the next big thing in shifting.
June 7, 2018By Eno Sarris/The Athletic
Cards' Reyes expected to miss rest of season
Right-hander undergoes surgery to reattach tendon in right lat
June 6, 2018By Joe Trezza/MLB.com
MLB TRANSACTIONS
June 7, 2018 •.CBSSports.com
LOCAL
Royals' Draft adds polished pitching to system
KC pairs college arms with existing crop of position players
June 6, 2018By Jordan Wolf/MLB.com
The Royals' farm system was in need of polished, experienced talent. After the conclusion of Day 3 of the 2018 Draft, it's clear that need has been addressed.
Of Kansas City's 43 picks, 34 came from the college ranks. After drafting 12 high schoolers in 2017 -- including three in the first five rounds -- the Royals selected just nine this year, most of them in the late rounds.
By drafting players further along in their development, Kansas City aligned this year's crop of prospects with the timeline of its existing Minor League talent.
"I think they're gonna fit in really nice with the group that we have, players that we have in our system, especially the group in Lexington and Wilmington," scouting director Lonnie Goldberg said. "This group should mesh in well."
The top five players on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Royals Prospects list all play at the Class A or Class A Advanced level and they are all position players -- Khalil Lee, Nick Pratto, Seuly Matias, MJ Melendez and Michael Gigliotti -- which may have spurred the club to spend its first five picks in this year's Draft on college pitchers.
"We wanted to make a concerted effort on getting some college pitching that we felt had high ceilings, and that could move quickly," general manager Dayton Moore said.
Aligning the timelines of its top prospects may set up the club in a similar position to a few years ago, when several blue-chippers such as Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Danny Duffy rose through the Minors together en route to a 2015 World Series title. Working together as prospects, they were able to develop chemistry from the get-go, and understand how to play as a team before even making it to the Majors.
"Several of these players that we've selected, they've obviously been in college baseball and they've been in programs that they've had to compete and have success at," Goldberg said. "They've played at high levels, and against obviously good competition."
While college players bring an element of poise and polish as prospects, the consensus opinion, in most cases, is that high school players present more potential because they are younger and have fewer innings on their arms. But Goldberg doesn't think that's the case with the Royals' 2018 selections.
"The one thing that I think is important, we didn't try to give up any ceiling," Goldberg said. "I know that it's been mentioned that college players don't have (as high of a) ceiling, but these guys that we've talked about, there's things that they do, and there's things that we also think that we can make a fix and work. When you put good players in a good competitive environment, they're just going to challenge each other. So there's still ceiling with the group we selected."
The Royals struck gold in that department with their first pick, as an early run on position players allowed Florida right-hander Brady Singer -- ranked No. 2 on MLB Pipeline's Top 200 Draft Prospects -- to fall to the Royals at 18th overall.
Singer's slide was especially convenient for the Royals, who have the largest bonus pool of any club and are best equipped to sign the high-profile Gators ace. They didn't expect him to be available, but they were thrilled he fell into their lap.
"We felt very fortunate we didn't have to do a lot of digging at that point," Goldberg said. "We were very well-aware of the makeup of who we were taking. ... Very excited that Brady fell there."
With their next selection, the Royals grabbed Singer's teammate, Gators right-hander Jackson Kowar, with the 33rd overall pick and Virginia lefty Daniel Lynch at No. 34. Stanford left-hander Kris Bubic (No. 40) and Memphis righty Jonathan Bowlan (No. 58) rounded out the club's Day 1 selections.
The Royals took four college pitchers and four college outfielders among their nine picks on Day 2 in Rounds 3-10. Of the team's 43 picks overall, 26 were pitchers.
Barlow, Royals stung by Angels' late homers
June 7, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
Right-handed reliever Scott Barlow raised plenty of eyebrows in the Royals organization when he completely dominated in his last two outings, going seven innings of long relief and giving up just three hits and one run while striking out 10.
But Barlow got a reminder on Wednesday that for him to be that effective, he has to locate his four-seam fastball that sits at 89-91 mph. Barlow served up a center-cut four-seamer to Ian Kinsler in the sixth inning and Kinsler blasted it out to left for a two-run home run that led the Angels to a 4-3 victory and a three-game sweep.
Kinsler's home run broke a 1-1 tie. In the next inning, Justin Upton belted a Barlow four-seamer for a home run that made it 4-1.
"I wanted it down and away [to Kinsler], and it caught too much plate," Barlow said. "Hitters let you know up here when you catch too much of the plate."
Added Royals manager Ned Yost, "Barlow made two mistakes. One trying to go fastball away and left in middle-[middle] to Kinsler. And the other was just falling behind Upton 3-0 where you have to come back and attack. In the big leagues, when you go 3-0, you better make it a good pitch or it will go a long way."
Alex Gordon had two hits and three RBIs for the Royals.
Royals starter Ian Kennedy came into the game having given up 29 runs in his last 23 2/3 innings. But the right-hander worked his way through traffic for five innings and gave up one run and seven hits while striking out five.
The Angels had the bases loaded and one out in the second inning, but Kennedy struck out Kaleb Cowart and got Michael Hermosillo to ground out.
After tying the score at 1 in the fifth, the Angels again had the bases loaded with one out. But Kennedy got Martin Maldonado to foul out and Chris Young to pop out to second.
"It's been a grind for the last month or so," Kennedy said. "But today was better. But getting out that big jam in the fifth kind of took everything out of me."
Angels right-hander Shohei Ohtani left after four innings because of a blister on his right middle finger after having given up four hits and one run.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Royals had a chance to break things open against a struggling Ohtani in the fourth. With two out, Gordon singled in Mike Moustakas, who had singled and moved to second on a passed ball. Ohtani then lost command and walked Hunter Dozier and Ryan Goins on a total of nine pitches. But the next hitter, Abraham Almonte, came out swinging and struck out on four pitches to end the inning. The final two swinging strikes were well out of the zone, the last one was in the dirt. Almonte struck out four times on Wednesday.
HE SAID IT
"This is a veteran group. They're professionals. They know these things happen. And there will be more guys traded before all is said and done. But they will just go out and compete." -- Yost, on the mood of the clubhouse after the trade of Jon Jay before the game
MITEL REPLAY OF THE DAY
Royals review specialist Bill Duplissea continues to stay hot. With two outs in the eighth inning, Angels reliever Justin Anderson unleashed a wild pitch with Moustakas on second and Salvador Perez on first. The pitch, however, bounced hard off the backstop and back to catcher Maldonado, who fired a strike to third to get Moustakas. Duplissea challenged the out call and it was overturned, as Moustakas eluded the tag with a nice swim move. Gordon then singled in Moustakas and Perez to make it a 4-3 game. Duplissea is an MLB-best 15 of 17.
"It just shows you how effective replay is, because without replay, the game is nothing for us," Yost said. "But with it, Gordy gets the big hit and we have an interesting game again."
UP NEXT
Right-hander Jason Hammel (2-5, 5.17 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals as they open a four-game set in Oakland on Thursday at 9:05 p.m CT. Hammel posted his third straight quality start Saturday against the A's at Kauffman Stadium, giving up three runs over six innings. Right-hander Frankie Montas (2-0, 0.64 ERA) will start for the A's.
KC trades Jay to Arizona for 2 pitching prospects
June 6, 2018By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
The Royals' off-season goal of restocking their farm system got a turbo-charged boost the past three days with their picks in the MLB Draft.
The rebuild got another boost Wednesday when the Royals traded outfielder Jon Jay to Arizona for Minor League pitchers Elvis Luciano and Gabe Speier.
Luciano, an 18-year-old right-hander, will report to Burlington for rookie ball. He was signed as an international free agent out of Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic in October 2016, and last year he combined to go 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA between the Dominican Summer League and Arizona League, pitching his way onto MLB Pipeline's D-backs Top 30 Prospects list, ranking 26th.
"We feel he is just getting started in his career," Royals assistant general manager of baseball operations Scott Sharp said in a conference call. "We had a lot of people see him prior to him signing with Arizona."
Speier, a 23-year-old left-hander, will report to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Speier was 1-1 with a 3.03 ERA for Double-A Jackson. He originally was drafted by Boston in 2013. Since then he has been traded to Detroit, Atlanta and Arizona.
"Gabe is a Double-A pitcher, but still really young," Sharp said. "He just turned 23. He's got some power from the left side and gets a lot of ground balls. We feel like when you can add a left-hander who is young and has had some success, that helps your system."
Sharp said the Royals debated whether to wait on dealing Jay closer to next month's Trade Deadline.
"I think, primarily, you have to weigh the deals in front of you vs. the unknown," Sharp said. "Arizona sought out Jon, and they wanted Jon. We felt like if we could put a deal together that had some impact and some long-range ceiling to go ahead and do it, rather than wait for something to come along. We felt we should execute this and get more pitching into the system."
Jay, who hit .307 with one home run and 18 RBIs for the Royals, was signed during Spring Training primarily to replace Jorge Bonifacio, who was suspended for the first 80 games this season by Major League Baseball for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Bonifacio will come off the suspended list June 27.
But Sharp said the Jay trade wasn't necessarily connected to making room on the 25-man roster for Bonifacio.
"I don't think it really is," Sharp said. "Three weeks is an eternity in this league. Injuries, roster decisions are so unpredictable over three weeks. ... I don't think Bonifacio was an overwhelming thought in this because so many things can happen between now and the end of June."
Royals manager Ned Yost was a fan of Jay's from the time he showed up in Spring Training.
"I'm glad that he gets to go to a contender," Yost said. "He gets to go to a team that's in first place in their division right now and help them compete."
The Royals are expected to recall an outfielder from Triple-A Omaha to replace Jay in time for Thursday's game in Oakland.
Arizona will pick up the remainder of what is owed on Jay's $3 million contract.
Son of Royals' assistant GM drafted by Mets
June 6, 2018By Jordan Wolf/MLB.com
Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo has drafted hundreds of players over the years during the Major League Baseball Draft, but it was a player selected by the Mets on Wednesday that stood out to him over any name he called: His son, Mike Picollo.
The Mets picked Mike Picollo with the No. 980 overall pick in the 33rd round. From Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park, Kan., he is a right-handed pitcher committed to play at University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
It's obviously an honor for any parent to have their son drafted, but for someone as close to the game as Picollo, it was especially sweet.
"It was neat," Picollo said. "You sit here and you listen to 1,200 names a year. To hear your son, you can't help but be proud. Pretty cool."
Picollo was happy for his son to have realized his dreams, but he couldn't keep his analytical side away. Should Mike decide to forego his college eligibility, Picollo said his son will have to work at his game to succeed.
"He's worked hard," Picollo said. "It's always been a dream of his to play professional baseball, but it's just a step along the way. He's kind of a long-term projection type kid, so he's got a ways to go."
Alex Gordon's RBI hits not enough for Royals as Angels sweep series
June 7, 2018By Maria Torres/KC Star
The Royals on Wednesday night had Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani where they needed him.
They had forced Ohtani to labor through a fourth inning in which he loaded the bases with two outs and allowed Alex Gordon to drive in the first run of the game on a single that split the Angels infielders shifted to the right of the field.
They had blistered the ball off the phenom, combining for an average exit velocity of 95.6 mph off a starter who this year limited batted balls to an average of 87.3 mph.
But 63 pitches in to his ninth start of the season, a finicky blister on his pitching hand forced Ohtani out of the game.
After losing their one-run lead, the Royals couldn't capitalize. They rallied for two runs in the eighth on Gordon’s two-out RBI hit, but it was not enough in a 4-3 defeat at Angel Stadium on Wednesday night, their fourth in a row.
If not for starting pitcher Ian Kennedy’s ongoing issues with longevity and the offense leaving eight on base, the Royals might have had a chance to squeak out of Southern California without being swept.