Royals Rumblings - News for August 9, 2024

Royals undefeated on off days in 2024

At The Star, Vinnie Pasquantino is profiled by Jayl— wait, Matt Guzman... who is that? Ah: “Texas-born, Missouri-educated and deeply passionate about storytelling, Matt Guzman is a sports intern at The Kansas City Star for the summer of 2024; He is a rising junior at the University of Missouri.” Oh, cool; carry on. If you can get a quote like this, you might be destined for stardom:

“I’d call him a fiery teddy bear,” Witt said. “He’s a big Vinnie rolling around, but he’s smart with everything he does and how much he knows about the game. He’s fiery, too. When things aren’t going the way he’d like them to, he speaks his mind, and that’s great for all of us just to hear him and what he knows.

Meanwhile, as Guzman is getting quotes about Pasquatch from Witt, Jaylon Thompson is collecting quotes from Vinnie about Bobby:

“He’s easily in the top two or three players in the American League at least,” Pasquantino said. “I’d argue in the whole league. He is just incredible and he is a better guy. … He is just one of the best and it’s really cool to share a clubhouse with a guy like that.”

Pete Grathoff writes about the giant cooler that looked like a QuikTrip cup for Wednesday’s Salvy splash on Witt.

Also, Grathoff writes about some KC-area radio changes that affect the Royals:

Starting next week, Royals fans who listen to games on the radio will have a new option on an FM station. Audacy will debut 96.5 The Fan (KFNZ-FM) on Aug. 15 (replacing ALT 96.5), and there will be a sister station on the AM side. KCSP (610 AM) is being changed to The Fan AM 610 (KFNZ-AM).

Royals games will air on The Fan on both AM and FM this season starting Aug. 15, although select games will be only on the AM station. That’s because 96.5 The Fan also will be the flagship station for Chiefs games, although those contests also will be simulcast on 106.5 The Wolf (WDAF-FM) for the 2024 season.

Broadcast teams for the Royals (Denny Matthews, Jake Eisenberg) and Chiefs (Mitch Holthus, Danan Hughes, Josh Klinger) will remain the same.

In her newsletter, Anne Rogers writes about Carter Jensen getting some advice from Red Sox killer MJ Melendez:

So he took advantage of a Major Leaguer on a rehab assignment in Northwest Arkansas, asking fellow left-handed batter MJ Melendez about his approach against lefties — specifically the lefties who feature a fastball-slider combination.

The advice Melendez gave Jensen paid off a few hours later when Jensen homered off a lefty reliever in the Naturals’ win. The Royals’ No. 8 prospect worked a six-pitch at-bat against Peyton Alford (Mariners), staying locked in on the slider after seeing it a few times previously in the at-bat. On the sixth pitch, Jensen pulled the breaking ball over the right-field wall.

“I just kept what he said in the back of my mind, and that at-bat played out,” Jensen said. “I went up to him right after and was like, ‘Hey, that’s because of you.’ We got a good laugh about it.”

“Well, his power definitely helped,” Melendez added later. “I remember being in his position, just trying to learn everything I can. And I still am. But it makes you feel good when you’re able to help other people, especially when they’re trying to get to the level you’re at.”

Is this a fun Royals stat or a not-as-fun Royals stat? I’ll let you decide:

In an alert about a number of old friends: White Sox GM Chris Getz (that’s still weird to say) fired current (now former) Chicago manager and former Royals coach Pedro Grifol yesterday. A number of other coaches were also fired including third base coach Eddie Rodriguez and assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar, both of which previously coached with the Royals.

How about a couple of listicles to close things out.

At MLB.com, the MLB Pipeline writers give us prospects with “rising stock”:

Royals: Asbel Gonzalez, OF

Signed for only $157,500 out of Venezuela in January 2023, Gonzalez has taken off in his first stateside season with a .285 average, .398 OBP and 22 steals in 41 games in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League. The 18-year-old’s speed and defense have impressed Kansas City officials most, and his ability to track down balls in center should keep him in that valuable position as he sets his sights on full-season ball next spring.

Yahoo’s Jordan Shusterman has the Royals high in his power rankings while also grading trade deadline moves:

7. Kansas City Royals, 63-51

Early returns on Kansas City’s three deadline additions on the mound have been mixed, with Hunter Harvey looking awfully shaky, while Michael Lorenzen and Lucas Erceg have looked great. If Harvey keeps struggling, Erceg alone will likely not be enough to support this beleaguered bullpen unit. Whether it’s the two veteran additions from the winter in Will Smith and Chris Stratton or a younger lefty in Kris Bubic, who has looked surprisingly stellar in his transition to the bullpen since coming back from Tommy John, someone will need to step up if the Royals are going to hang on to a wild card.

Blog Time.

David Lesky wrote about Wednesday’s game at Inside the Crown ($):

There is no such thing as a must-win game on August 7. When facing the possibility of a sweep to the team that could swap places with your team in the standings on the day that the first place team lost twice and the team directly in front of your team also lost, though, well, they really needed to win. At the end of the day, the Royals did what they’ve done so many times throughout the season; they’ve done what good teams do and they’ve limited the losing. Six times now, they’ve won the final game of a series that went three games or longer to avoid a sweep. In 11 other series, they won a single game.

It may seem like a small thing, but that’s 17 games that kept them from being swept. The 2023 Royals were swept 14 times. Take away 14 wins from the 2024 Royals and they’re 50-66. Sure, that’s better, but their ability to grab a game here and there and not get stuck in long losing streaks is a defining characteristic. And for some reason, when the stars are stars, it feels a little bit better. So let’s look at what the stars did last night.

At Farm to Fountains, Zac Miller looks at some of the most improved players in the system this year, including a player mentioned above:

Carter Jensen (C) – Royals’ No. 8 prospect

Carter Jensen’s plate approach has been well-documented over the past few years. The man is not afraid to draw a walk, making him an instant favorite among the Royals’ faithful. Not only has Jensen maintained his impressive walk rate as he’s worked his way through the minors, but he is also hitting for a better average, which has taken his game to the next level. With his profile at the plate, I thought hitting for a .240 average this year would be huge for his growth. He decided to blow that out of the water this season, skyrocketing his average to .271 in Quad Cities before a recent promotion to NW Arkansas. There is a lot to look forward to with Jensen as he inches closer and closer to Kansas City.

Also at FTF, Preston Farr looks at a pair of 2023 draftees:

The Kansas City Royals were ecstatic to come away with two young, high-octane arms in the 2023 draft. The front office acquired RHP Blake Wolters with the 44th overall pick. They followed that selection by selecting RHP Hiro Wyatt to open their draft on day two. Wolters agreed to a $2.8 million signing bonus. Wyatt came in at $1.49 million. In all, Kansas City took a $12,313,500 draft pool into last summer’s draft. The team spent nearly 35% of that draft pool on the duo of prep arms. Now just over a year later, those two young arms represent the future for the Royals.

Blog Roundup:

• Darin Watson at U.L.’s Toothpick: This Date In Royals History—1984 Edition: August 8 - The Royals can’t solve Don Sutton in a loss to Milwaukee
• Jacob Milham at Kings of Kauffman: 3 KC Royals who survived the trade deadline but will get dealt this offseason (slideshow warning)
• Mathew Gibson at Kansas City Royals on SI: Is Bobby Witt Jr. Closing the Gap on Aaron Judge in the AL MVP Race?

Last week, we talked about the Olympics and had a pretty good response so let’s do it again this week. FYI: While there are still a couple of days left, I think we’ll move onto another topic for next week (it’s past time to do our Asia Baseball updates).

To update from some stories last week:

• Léon Marchand, the French swimming hero, finished with 4 individual golds (200 breast, 200 fly, 200 IM, 400 IM) and a bronze as France finished 3rd in the 4x100 medley (China gold, USA silver). His 4 golds meant France finished 3rd in swimming golds and 5th in medals with 7
• The USA won both counts with 8 golds and 28 medals over Australia, who was 2nd with 7 and 18
• Katie Ledecky did indeed win the 800, edging out Australia’s Ariarne Titmus. That meant she tied or broke all those records I listed last week (T-2nd most gold, T-5th most medals, 1st woman and 2nd swimmer to win gold in an event in 4 straight Olympics, etc)
• There are a number of repeat names on the women’s side across different disciplines and distances in individual races: Ledecky (400/800/1500 free), Titmus (200/400/800 free), Summer McIntosh-CAN (200 fly, 400 free, 200/400 IM), Kaylee McKeown-AUS (100/200 back, 200 IM), and Torii Huske-USA (100 free, 100 fly)

Gymnastics finished up with the individual events. Simone Biles added another gold in vault, besting Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and USA’s Jade Carey. Suni Lee added another bronze on the uneven bars. But the finale on the floor gave us one of the iconic moments of the game as Andrade edged out Biles:

Photo by Daniela Porcelli/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

Tennis great Novak Djokovic became the oldest man to ever win an Olympic singles gold and “became the fifth player to own what has been dubbed the career golden slam by winning all four majors and an Olympic singles title. That exclusive group also features Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams, who was in the stands to witness this pulsating contest.”

Of course, Track and Field takes center stage in the second week. It’s hard to pick out only a few moments from there, especially with Team USA having one of their best Olympics ever. Let’s start with the title of “Fastest Man” and “Fastest Woman” in the world, aka the 100m dash.

On the women’s side, Julien Alfred edged out America’s Sha’Carri Richardson and Melissa Jefferson to win gold. Alfred is from Saint Lucia, a Caribbean island of under 200K people, and she followed up her 100m win with silver in the 200m to give the country its first ever medals. In the 200m, American Gabby Thomas obliterated the field to win gold and the stars and stripes added another medal with Brittany Brown winning bronze.

The men’s 100m dash was full of high drama with a long build up (including a song I featured earlier this year) and a photo finish. Both the American and international feeds on Peacock assumed Kishane Thompson from Jamaica won. However, after going to the film, American Noah Lyles was shown to be the winner by 0.005 seconds. Tokyo silver medalist, American Fred Kerley, won the bronze by .01 seconds over South Africa’s Akani Simbine.

Photo by Sun Fei/Xinhua via Getty Images

Yesterday, Lyles tried for the double but finished third. Letsile Tebogo of Botswana became the first African man to win the race and Kenny Bednarek of USA won silver. It would later be revealed that Lyles had tested positive for COVID on Tuesday after medical staff was seen tending to him after the race.

I’m sure it’s getting coverage locally, but a reminder that Kansas Citian Quincy Hall had a big comeback to win gold in the 400:

Mondo Duplantis, Louisiana-born pole vaulter who represents Sweden, cemented his place as an all-time great. He left Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis in bronze at 5.90m and USA’s Sam Kendricks in silver at 5.95m. But then he just kept jumping. He hit at 6.00. Then he jumped 6.10 to set a new Olympic record. Finally, he set the bar at 6.25. On his third attempt, cleared the bar, sending the world record higher for the 9th time in his career.

Americans continued to medal all around the field:

• He deserves more than a bullet point, but Ryan Crouser became the first ever three-time gold medalist in shot put; Joe Kovacs took silver with his last of six throws, knocking teammate Payton Otterdahl off the podium
• Valarie Allman followed up her discus gold in Tokyo with another in Paris while Annette Echikunwoke took silver in the hammer throw
• Yesterday, Americans went 1-2 in the men’s 110m hurdles (Grant Holloway, Daniel Roberts) and women’s 400m hurdles (Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Anna Cockrell); Holloway got the gold that eluded him in Tokyo while McLaughlin-Levrone set the world record for the sixth time
• Jasmine Moore got a neat double with bronze in both the long jump and triple jump, becoming only the second woman in history to medal in both at the same Olympics
• However, the best (highest ranking? coolest color? help me out with the verbiage here) medal won in the jumping sports went to Kansas State assistant track coach Tara Davis-Woodhall, who beat Moore and others for gold in long jump
• Cole Hocker raced past favorites Josh Kerr (GBR) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) to win the 1500 and Yared Nuguse snuck in for the bronze; Also in long distance running, Kenneth Rooks won silver in the 3000m steeplechase, which, yes, is based on a horse race (it’s the one with the wide hurdles and the water pit)

Here’s some other fun Olympic stories, either notable, quirky, or both:

• If you’re curious about the medal table: as of yesterday afternoon, 84 countries have won a medal
• France is in two of the most high profile team finals, with their men’s basketball team facing USA and their men’s soccer team facing Spain; I’m sure finding tickets to those will set you back a pretty penny
• Greco-Roman wrestler Mijaín López of Cuba became the first Olympian to win individual gold in 5 straight Olympics. After he won the gold medal match 6-0(!), he took off his shoes and left them on the mat, signaling his retirement.
• A whale jumped out of the water to watch the last day of surfing in Tahiti; American Caroline Marks won the women’s gold while France’s Kauli Vaast won for the men
• Finally, yes, Snoop Dogg has been a very popular element in NBC’s coverage; rumor is that he’s getting paid $500K a day for his time

I was curious what some of the previous Opening Ceremonies looked like and I found a video from the 1984 Los Angeles games on YouTube: