Good stuff David. Just wanted to comment on one point...base running. I'm sure there are more than a couple factors here (Vance Wilson makes poor decisions, the contact play kills us), but I wonder about one. Rusty Kuntz seemed to always be regarded as one of the better base running coaches. He is no longer in that capacity. Coincidence?
No, they absolutely miss Rusty. He also works with minor leaguers regularly, though, and he's not the only person in the world who can teach things like that. I think outside of Benintendi, a lot of is stuff you learn with experience. The 2012 Royals had the third-most outs on the bases. There will always be outs for this team because they're aggressive, but they fell to 11th by 2015.
Clark, I am SO SICK of the Royals making brainless, automatic outs on that damn contact play, and have been for years! They need to put that thing in deep freeze for the next couple of centuries. Or longer.
I posted my Buck O'Neil story several months ago at The Athletic. I hope no one minds if I post it again. With Buck finally going into the HOF (WAY too late) this just seems like the right time for it.
I was a musician performing at the Blue Room at 18th & Vine when we got word that Buck had passed away. It was no secret that Buck, being a jazz lover, had spent MANY hours at that place over the decades. Our lead singer was so overcome with emotion that she had to leave the stage for a while.
That left the four of us in her backup band standing there on stage, wondering what to do. We almost began playing a nearly-obligatory slow, sad, mournful blues. Fortunately, somebody said, "Wait a minute. What would Buck want right now?" We all looked at each other and immediately knew the answer.
So we jumped feet-first into an insanely up-tempo Charlie Parker tune, and blazed away at that thing for probably 8 or 9 minutes, maybe longer. Great fun for the band and I think (hope) for the audience as well. Buck would not have wanted us to mourn his death, he would have wanted us to celebrate his life and to have as good a time as possible while doing so. So that's what we did.
Normally we kept things pretty low-key in the first set, and waited until the second set to really crank up the energy. But this was no ordinary night. I promise you, less than 3 minutes into that tune every guy in the band had broken a nice thick sweat. Just as Buck (and Charlie Parker) would have wanted!
I'm still convinced today that that would have gotten the Buck Seal of Approval. And it remains one of the most memorable moments in my 40+ years as a professional musician. I've been on TV many times, and I've performed in front of many, many thousands of people in some pretty big venues. But none of that was better than this one song, performed on an otherwise-ordinary Friday evening at 18th & Vine.
An evening that started out as "just another gig" ended up being something very, very different. Thank you, Buck.
There was a whole lot to like about Singer Saturday night. I was really struck by how consistently (and viciously!) he was working inside, especially to leftys. His slider was borderline illegal, and he somehow managed to control his fastball despite the great "run" it had on it.
But more than that, when he just barely lost his no-no on a leadoff bunt in the 6th, he didn't get flustered but went right back on the attack. That wouldn't have happened last year or even earlier this year. Yeah, the Rays scored a run, mostly due to a snowball fight staged by BWJ and Pratto. But Singer stayed as aggressive and dominant as he'd been in the previous five innings.
I can't wait for Matheny and Moore to credit Eldred for that, and for Bubic's performance on Sunday, conveniently forgetting that Cal has also been the pitching coach for boatloads of far less impressive outings from every guy on the staff, including Singer and Bubic.
Singer has been a different guy this season as far as not letting things snowball, which for him was at least close to as important as getting his changeup workable. I can think of at least three instances where I feel pretty confident saying he'd have allowed way more than he did if that particular game was played last year. So good on him for maturing on the mound. But yeah, the changeup also doesn't hurt and getting inside on lefties doesn't hurt either.
If there's one thing you can count on, it's Dayton and Co. crediting Cal for any sliver of pitching success even if it's pretty clear the time at Omaha was the catalyst.
I noticed two things you said, David. Singer has been better since his return from Omaha. Bubic has been better since his return from Omaha. Looks like the FO would see that too. Eldred has to go!!!!!!!
Cal's "finishing school" seems better suited to turning out problem children.
But in Dayton's view, Cal has the right...*ahem*...."intangibles." I won't believe that Dayton is going to fire Cal until at least 48 hours after it actually happens. If it ever does.
David, this may be premature but I'd love to get your views on this... It looks to me as if for the past 4 weeks or so, Nicky Lopez has been trending fairly strongly towards getting back to the offensive player he was last year. (I haven't really dug into the numbers but that's what my eye test tells me.)
I didn't see last year coming for him but I definitely liked it. With his defensive prowess and speed on the basepaths, if he can consistently be close to what he was last year at the plate, that's a really nice piece of the puzzle. He'll probably never be a star, but maybe a really high-level glue guy?
Am I reading too much into just a random streak of unusual luck? Do you see him doing anything different lately compared with the first 12 weeks of the season?
I haven't taken enough of a look to know the answer, but I find this interesting:
On June 12, 2021, Lopez was hitting .224/.320/.301. He hit .334/.387/.414 the rest of the way. His BABIP up to June 12 was .263. It was .385 after.
On June 12, 2022, Lopez was hitting .210/.285/.249. Since then, he's hit .312/.321/.385. His BABIP up to June 12 was .245. It's .374 since.
My gut is that he's found luck again. What's weird is the timing of it. He's also not walking much and I have looked to see that he's getting pitches outside the zone, so it's not like pitchers are just challenging him every pitch. So I don't know the answer. If it goes on a little bit more that he's hitting, I might dig in, but just like last year, I fear that it's unsustainable due to an inability to drive the ball enough to keep outfielders honest.
Jul 26, 2022·edited Jul 26, 2022Liked by David Lesky
Watching Zach do his thing Monday night it occurred to me: sometimes he looks more like a scientist conducting physics experiments involving a baseball (with maybe a little B F Skinner-ish behavior modification thrown in) then a mere MLB starting pitcher. Look up "outlier" and I'm pretty sure you'll find his photo.
I enjoyed Jeff Montgomery's observation about how good Zack is at changing velocities - sometimes by using different pitches, other times by using the exact same pitch but slowing it down or speeding it up just enough to screw with the batter's timing.
Good stuff David. Just wanted to comment on one point...base running. I'm sure there are more than a couple factors here (Vance Wilson makes poor decisions, the contact play kills us), but I wonder about one. Rusty Kuntz seemed to always be regarded as one of the better base running coaches. He is no longer in that capacity. Coincidence?
No, they absolutely miss Rusty. He also works with minor leaguers regularly, though, and he's not the only person in the world who can teach things like that. I think outside of Benintendi, a lot of is stuff you learn with experience. The 2012 Royals had the third-most outs on the bases. There will always be outs for this team because they're aggressive, but they fell to 11th by 2015.
Clark, I am SO SICK of the Royals making brainless, automatic outs on that damn contact play, and have been for years! They need to put that thing in deep freeze for the next couple of centuries. Or longer.
Outfielders not moving is great. Pitchers not even turning around (and sometimes just asking for another ball) is better.
Oh good call. Usually less obvious because you're watching the ball fly out, but you're definitely right there.
I posted my Buck O'Neil story several months ago at The Athletic. I hope no one minds if I post it again. With Buck finally going into the HOF (WAY too late) this just seems like the right time for it.
I was a musician performing at the Blue Room at 18th & Vine when we got word that Buck had passed away. It was no secret that Buck, being a jazz lover, had spent MANY hours at that place over the decades. Our lead singer was so overcome with emotion that she had to leave the stage for a while.
That left the four of us in her backup band standing there on stage, wondering what to do. We almost began playing a nearly-obligatory slow, sad, mournful blues. Fortunately, somebody said, "Wait a minute. What would Buck want right now?" We all looked at each other and immediately knew the answer.
So we jumped feet-first into an insanely up-tempo Charlie Parker tune, and blazed away at that thing for probably 8 or 9 minutes, maybe longer. Great fun for the band and I think (hope) for the audience as well. Buck would not have wanted us to mourn his death, he would have wanted us to celebrate his life and to have as good a time as possible while doing so. So that's what we did.
Normally we kept things pretty low-key in the first set, and waited until the second set to really crank up the energy. But this was no ordinary night. I promise you, less than 3 minutes into that tune every guy in the band had broken a nice thick sweat. Just as Buck (and Charlie Parker) would have wanted!
I'm still convinced today that that would have gotten the Buck Seal of Approval. And it remains one of the most memorable moments in my 40+ years as a professional musician. I've been on TV many times, and I've performed in front of many, many thousands of people in some pretty big venues. But none of that was better than this one song, performed on an otherwise-ordinary Friday evening at 18th & Vine.
An evening that started out as "just another gig" ended up being something very, very different. Thank you, Buck.
Very cool story!
Thank you. I was hoping that you (and everyone else around here) would enjoy it.
There was a whole lot to like about Singer Saturday night. I was really struck by how consistently (and viciously!) he was working inside, especially to leftys. His slider was borderline illegal, and he somehow managed to control his fastball despite the great "run" it had on it.
But more than that, when he just barely lost his no-no on a leadoff bunt in the 6th, he didn't get flustered but went right back on the attack. That wouldn't have happened last year or even earlier this year. Yeah, the Rays scored a run, mostly due to a snowball fight staged by BWJ and Pratto. But Singer stayed as aggressive and dominant as he'd been in the previous five innings.
I can't wait for Matheny and Moore to credit Eldred for that, and for Bubic's performance on Sunday, conveniently forgetting that Cal has also been the pitching coach for boatloads of far less impressive outings from every guy on the staff, including Singer and Bubic.
Singer has been a different guy this season as far as not letting things snowball, which for him was at least close to as important as getting his changeup workable. I can think of at least three instances where I feel pretty confident saying he'd have allowed way more than he did if that particular game was played last year. So good on him for maturing on the mound. But yeah, the changeup also doesn't hurt and getting inside on lefties doesn't hurt either.
If there's one thing you can count on, it's Dayton and Co. crediting Cal for any sliver of pitching success even if it's pretty clear the time at Omaha was the catalyst.
I'm right there with you on BWJ! As soon as I heard "hamstring" my first thought was "please don't rush him back just because he's The Golden Child!"
And on an unrelated note: seems like those 7-inning outs could really wear a pitcher down after just three or four outs. 😝
I noticed two things you said, David. Singer has been better since his return from Omaha. Bubic has been better since his return from Omaha. Looks like the FO would see that too. Eldred has to go!!!!!!!
Yeah, definitely wasn’t being subtle there haha. Hopefully they see it at the end of the year.
Cal's "finishing school" seems better suited to turning out problem children.
But in Dayton's view, Cal has the right...*ahem*...."intangibles." I won't believe that Dayton is going to fire Cal until at least 48 hours after it actually happens. If it ever does.
David, this may be premature but I'd love to get your views on this... It looks to me as if for the past 4 weeks or so, Nicky Lopez has been trending fairly strongly towards getting back to the offensive player he was last year. (I haven't really dug into the numbers but that's what my eye test tells me.)
I didn't see last year coming for him but I definitely liked it. With his defensive prowess and speed on the basepaths, if he can consistently be close to what he was last year at the plate, that's a really nice piece of the puzzle. He'll probably never be a star, but maybe a really high-level glue guy?
Am I reading too much into just a random streak of unusual luck? Do you see him doing anything different lately compared with the first 12 weeks of the season?
I haven't taken enough of a look to know the answer, but I find this interesting:
On June 12, 2021, Lopez was hitting .224/.320/.301. He hit .334/.387/.414 the rest of the way. His BABIP up to June 12 was .263. It was .385 after.
On June 12, 2022, Lopez was hitting .210/.285/.249. Since then, he's hit .312/.321/.385. His BABIP up to June 12 was .245. It's .374 since.
My gut is that he's found luck again. What's weird is the timing of it. He's also not walking much and I have looked to see that he's getting pitches outside the zone, so it's not like pitchers are just challenging him every pitch. So I don't know the answer. If it goes on a little bit more that he's hitting, I might dig in, but just like last year, I fear that it's unsustainable due to an inability to drive the ball enough to keep outfielders honest.
Watching Zach do his thing Monday night it occurred to me: sometimes he looks more like a scientist conducting physics experiments involving a baseball (with maybe a little B F Skinner-ish behavior modification thrown in) then a mere MLB starting pitcher. Look up "outlier" and I'm pretty sure you'll find his photo.
I enjoyed Jeff Montgomery's observation about how good Zack is at changing velocities - sometimes by using different pitches, other times by using the exact same pitch but slowing it down or speeding it up just enough to screw with the batter's timing.