KC Royals April 2024 grade
Darin
Posts: 6,973 ✭✭✭✭✭
Has to be A+ even with some shaky bullpen work at times.
At the end of April 2023 they were 7-22. End of April 2024 they are 18-13.
Some concerns are MJ Melendez, after a great start this year it looked like maybe he could finally start hitting mlb pitching. Now he’s back to his usual .200 hitting self.
Best hitters…… Witt, Salvy, Mikael Garcia, Pasquentino although he needs to be more consistent. We need a couple regulars to step up and get on base in the .330-340 range, too many easy outs.
Starting pitching has been fantastic. Last game of April, kc had to face blue jays ace berrios and the royals had lost 3 in a row so needed a win badly. Somehow scored 4 runs and our ace Ragans shut them down.
Bullpen for the most part good but they need to lock it down when they come in with the lead.
Very pleasant surprise for April.
Keep it up KC 👍
Comments
KC has a solid squad
Kansas City seems to be having way too much sports success for a city of its size. The fix may be in.
I think a full scale investigation is warranted. 🔍
The problem is the starting pitching has been so good that, being realistic I can’t see how they can sustain that top quality level. Those guys have been winning games for kc, like today Lugo gave up 1 run in 7 innings. Timely hitting helps but the royals don’t have enough really good hitters to win games if the pitching falters. That’s why I’m so disappointed in Mj Melendez, he needed to step up and produce and he’s hitting like .175 or something.
Congrats on the Phillies strong start, they should definitely keep up the winning with their talent. I would rather see them win the nl pennant than the dodgers or braves or any other team. 👍
I'd be more than happy to see a Phillies-Royals WS again. Give you guys a chance at some payback for 1980.
I attended the first two games of that series. Great series, and the Royals fought tooth and nail in every inning. Phillies were just too good and too motivated to lose that season.
That was a frustrating game yesterday for me. Salvy catching Chourio @ 3rd was brutal. The perfect pitch for that.
Great win for the royals last night. Down 0-1 going into top of ninth. Adam Frazier hits a 2 run homer for a 2-1 lead and kc holds them in the bottom of ninth.
I don’t know about you guys but I absolutely hate losing 0-1 and wasting great pitching like that so that was huge! 👍🍺Also I’m a big believer that these early games are just as important as September games especially when KC is believing in themselves and their ability to win games in their last at bat.
The game with kc leading the brewers 5-3 with 2 out in the ninth was brutal.😩
Our closer gives up a double, a walk and then promptly serves up a 3 run dinger to Adames. That one hurt!
All started with 2 outs!
It was a tough series for the Brewers. All 3 great games. Loved those rally innings. Royals are a solid club but need to sort out the back of the BP.
To put it into perspective…….
Royals Won- Loss record,
July 8, 2023, 25-65
May 12, 2024. 25-17
I hope the Royals don’t go on a 56 game losing streak because if they do their record will be identical to last year and if memory serves that season didn’t turn out to well.
Royals record.
July 28, 2023. 30-75
May 20, 2024. 30-19
😛🥳🍺🤣😁
Quite an amazing turnaround in one season.
Good luck the rest of the way!
The starting pitching has been amazing. I know a point will come where they will struggle to win games simply because of the length
of the season and slumps are just a part of it, so I’m going to enjoy this start immensely.
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/mlb-2024-world-series-odds
2024 World Series odds: Dodgers hold steady; Kansas City Royals surging
I see KC is +5000 now to win the World Series. I have a couple very small wagers on them to win both their division and the World Series at +14000. Which were placed early April.
A lot more on them to just win their division. Started right before the season at +850 and then they lost the first two games of the season it went to +950. In for more at +750. I would basically add a little every visit to the casino until last Sunday when it was +370. Surprising the twins were like +225 even with kc ahead of them in the standings.
That 140-1 winner would sure be a fat ticket, even with a small wager.
i'll root for ya unless they play the Phillies in the WS, then I'd be forced to root against ya. Let's hope it comes to that, and I'd say it's certainly at least a possibility as both teams are playing well 😊
Yes the 140-1 would be nice but that was kind of just throw away money knowing there’s not much chance.
The royals to win the al central I went heavier on. Nobody in their right mind would think after going
56-106 that kc could win the division the following year. I’m not in my right mind so that wasn’t a factor. I knew the pitching on paper was much better. As well as Bobby baseball and a few others having another year of experience.
You know how in poker they say “he got his chips in good” or “he’s getting a great price to make a call”?
Thats kind of how I was feeling making those bets. KC might not win the division, but I felt like the price was too good to pass up.
The late great Doyle Brunson said, "Poker isn't about winning or losing, it's about making the right decisions." And of course he was absolutely correct.
If ya make the right decisions in poker, unless the rake is prohibitively high or the game is rigged, in the long run the players making the right decisions will make money,
And that’s why you always pay to see the flop with ten-deuce!
I enjoy watching the "live" games at Hustler, the Lodge, etc, on Youtube. So a lot of poker games pop up on my opening screen. One yesterday had as a headline, worst bad beat of all time, so i just had to click it to see - LOL.
Guy has a hidden camera playing casino poker somewhere. He's got pocket aces and he's slow playing it for the most part just with min-raise chips. Turn comes an ace so he's got trips. River is a brick. The table cards are Q, 3, 4, A, 8 with no possible flush. So he's got the nuts he thinks, and he mentioned the possible opponent 2,5 in his narration, but thought no way the opponent played that. Guy shoves all-in, opponent snap calls and turns over the lousy 2,5 off suit for the nut straight. Guy lost around a thousand bucks. Could say his mistake was slow playing the pocket aces, but really just awful bad luck on that hand.
Bobby Baseball is heating up again.
Tonight so far a single, a three run bomb, a solo shot, sac fly, 3 runs scored and 6 RBI’s. Oh and he threw in a stolen base. 😁
Our lead off guy Maikel Garcia tonight has 2 triples and a single but somehow Bobby is outhitting him.
Garcia also with an outstanding play at the hot corner. I like this guy. 😎
He plays 3rd right?
Bobby Witt having himself a game
2 HR's and 6 RBI
I knew Bobby hit better at home than away but now it’s getting ridiculous. before they started their last road trip Bobby was raking and had his average up to 324, then went to angels and mariners and sucked. Came home and got like 6 extra base hits in 6 games plus a couple singles.
So tonight they start another road trip. 😩
His first two years his numbers were way better at home but this year he’s taking it to another level.
Start hitting on the road Bobby!!
Numbers this year, home numbers
first and then away……..
Batting avg…. .361, .244
OBP…… .427, .286
SLG…. .713, .356
OPS….. 1.140, .641
He’s the best player in baseball if he hits on the road like he does at home.
Do they have a unique batters eye in KC?
You mean the background? It’s solid green, don’t know if it’s unique.
Anyway theyre at Tropicana field right now and all the royals are hitting except Bobby.
SPOKE TOO SOON, BOBBY CRANKS ONE AS I WAS TYPING 😎🥳👍
@Darin
last home Royals game you attended?
inquiring minds wanna know
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
Well it was when Mike Trout was healthy and playing regularly so many, many years ago. 😁
I think we saw two and the Angels won both but my memory could be wrong. Nowadays it’s too much hassle would rather watch on tv.
Last night Tom Verducci said the Royals are already having internal discussions about acquiring a solid outfielder before the trade deadline. Which makes sense because we’re not getting much production at all from OF. I mentioned in the first post MJ Melendez needed to rake and lock down left field. He has not hit well at all.
Meanwhile two guys on the infield have stepped up and are playing great lately. Massey at second base and Garcia at third. Both very good defensively. Massey was injured to start the season and started slow when he came back but now he’s swinging a hot bat. Garcia is very solid in the lead off spot.
Hope they pick up a power bat in the outfield!
We were chatting about "streaks" in the Phillies thread.
I see your Royals have won 8 in a row. Very nice indeed!
The bad news is kc has won 8 in a row but hasn’t gained a single game on Cleveland because they have also won 8 in a row. 😩
Nice comeback win for the Phillies last night, they showed the end of it on mlb network. 👍
Yea that's tough when your team is doing that tremendously well, but can't gain any ground. But that is certainly a good problem.
I realize that the Phillies probably aren't going to continue their tremendous winning percentage, and perhaps the Royals won't either. But I'm sure enjoying it, and I imagine that you are to.
Both our teams playing well, and even at this early stage, almost a lock at this point to make the playoffs. Then we'll see what happens from there. 😊
Believe it or not, one of my best friends in life is a Royals fan. We were fraternity roommates up at Penn State. You may ask why is a Pennsylvania kid a Royals fan? I asked him the same question when I first met him when we were pledges. We quickly become great friends not only because of that, but because we are both huge sports fans and baseball card collectors. But he grew-up in a rural area, around 25 miles west of Harrisburg PA, far away from Philly or Pittsburgh and had no "allegiance" to any of those areas. He told me many kids from his area were actually Orioles fans because that city is closer to them. I still didn't fully understand this when he first explained it, figuring he should root for a team in his home state. But then I realized that I don't give two chits about any Pittsburgh team. I doubt if any New York City area football fan cares about the Bills, etc. Anyway, as a kid growing up, he just gravitated to a team whose players he personally liked, and in MLB that happened to be the Royals. May have also been because the Royals were an expansion team in 1969, and he wanted to root for a brand new team, but I'm not sure about that. In the NFL he's a Bears fan. One difference we have is he's a big NBA fan and I'm not. I think there he likes the Celtics, I forget.
PS - During that Phillies-Royals WS in 1980 we had a bet on the series. He demanded a Philly cheese steak shipped to him in dry ice from a popular joint in Philly, and I demanded a blueberry pie made by his beautiful wife. To this day, I still sometimes remind him of how delicious that blueberry pie was. 🤣
Steve I grew up in a rural area of Kansas, and my dad was a huge Musial and Cardinal fan when he was young. My dad loved baseball and was a very good player. Anyway me and my brothers learned a lot about baseball from him. We picked our favorite bb team when we were very young. I picked the pirates because I liked the name Pittsburgh pirates. So naturally the great one Clemente was my favorite player. After he tragically passed it was only natural that Stargell became my favorite. Then when Dave Parker came along it pretty much coincided with the rise of the Royals and their young star Brett. I used to argue with my middle brother that Parker was better than Brett! 😳
Well during that time our Dad started taking us to some royals games, not many but enough to turn me into a huge kc fan. So then I had 2 favorite teams and I didn’t want them to play in the World Series because I wouldn’t know who to root for. Now I wish they would have.
Completely understand about rooting for multiple teams.
Some here already know this. I grew-up in Connecticut before moving to Philly in the fifth grade. I was a huge Yankees and Mets fan. And remained that way after moving to Philly. Stayed that way, although being in Philly, new friends being in Philly, etc, I slowly morphed into being a Phillies fan as well. Becoming an Eagles fan was easy because I didn't really follow football until perhaps around the 7th grade when I started playing football for my school team.
I was still basically a Yankees, Mets, and Phillies fan even while in college. Although it started turning towards the Philly teams more. It's interesting how i sort of "morphed" without even consciously realizing it, but sometime in my later twenties, I suddenly just stopped being a New York fan, and became fully devoted to Philly teams.
Funny, I'll sometimes receive an email from an old fraternity brother who gets my email thru the grapevine, fraternity newsletter, etc, asking me how I'm doing, and how the Yankees are doing, etc. And I have to inform him that I can no longer stand the Yankees or Mets. LOL
However I'll always have fondness in my heart for players such as Mantle, Tom Seaver, etc. during that time I was a NY fan. 😊
Well the Royals are toast, when does football start?
At least I got 2 months of solid entertainment out of the Royals.
They’re +73 in runs and that’s with a hot AL central.
Witt has 3.9 WAR already in 2024. That’s a solid season at this point in his career!
They don’t look like a fluke.
Who would have predicted the AL Central this year?
The Royals next 4 opponents and where they are in their division standings………
Guardians- First place
Mariners- First place
Yankees- First place
Dodgers- First place
We should get a good feel for what the AL Central will be all about in the coming weeks. KC plays a series in Cleveland starting today and then the Indians return the favor at the end of the month by traveling to play the Royals. The two teams have both been playing well.
Bobby Witt, Jr. gets an A+ for hitting with (2) two-run HR's but then screws the pooch in the field with a double error: he took a routine DP grounder and never touched 2nd base with his foot and threw away the relay to 1st. Just an amazing turnaround for him, hero to goat in an instant.
It was close game between two pretty good teams.
You’re kind of right, he was the goat but it wasn’t a double error or a DP ground ball. There were 2 outs at the time, not touching 2nd base wasn’t an error and I’m not sure he could have beaten Naylor to the bag anyway, Naylor got a huge head start off first base because the first basemen wasn’t holding him on first. The throw to first was a disastrous error, he actually had a lot more time but he rushed it.
What he should have done was when he fielded it, plant his feet and make a good throw to first, would have gotten him easy.
I stand corrected, I didn't watch the game and only saw the highlights. I wonder if Witt Jr. got confused and could decide in the moment if he should go for which base. It sort of looked like it would have been a tie at 2nd and then he just made a bad throw. Too bad because he really slammed the two HR's.
Yes I think you’re right he got close to second base and realized he might not win that race, and then
I think he panicked a little and rushed the throw to first. As it skips over the first baseman’s glove you can see the runner still wasn’t that close to first base so a good throw gets him easily.
It’s too bad that play ruined a really good game at the plate for him.
Gave up on them a little early didn’t you chump?
Maybe my favorite box score of the season. Seth Lugo responsible for 7 innings of this and 2 relievers pitched a hitless eighth and ninth innings.
Pretty good when The Walking Man Juan Soto can’t even draw a BB.
I heard two stats during one of the broadcasts this past week watching the Crew...
A Royals vs. Brewers WS might just be the lowest rated in modern history, but I would love to see it.
Royals vs. Brewers would be great!
Think Brett and Yount would wager a few bucks on the outcome? 😆