Why are the Bats Struggling?
It's only six games, but we've seen this before from the Royals...only it's been different in the past.
I’m immediately breaking a rule here by making the headline a question and one that can be mocked endlessly by anyone reading this, but I don’t care. I’m a rule breaker. The easy answer to my question is that there just isn’t enough talent in the lineup. While that may ultimately be true, I think there’s significantly more than we’ve seen through six games. But it’s also true that since Vinnie Pasquantino’s injury on August 29 last year, the Royals have done almost nothing but struggle offensively in games that matter, and it ultimately cost them a chance to go to the ALCS. So I want to dig a bit deeper.
But before I do…
If you missed yesterday’s Kauffman Corner, you can catch it right here and on YouTube live every week on Thursday mornings at 8:30am central. Ignore the cover page with the Rany Jazayerli reference. He’s still on Sundays with Soren, but Les Norman and I will join Soren weekly. I’ll make sure to include it in the newsletter every Friday. Many of those days, it’ll end up being behind a day, but because the Royals had an off day yesterday, it all still works today!
I’d love everyone to listen and, as Soren says, like, love, do whatever positive you can on whatever platform you’re listening on because those things are all free and help us out quite a bit. Hope you enjoy it wherever you get your podcasts!
Okay, let’s get back to the bats because shameless self-promotion is not why you subscribe to Inside the Crown. They’re currently sitting with a team line of .213/.287/.338. They have struck out 21.6 percent of the time and walked 7.3 percent of the time. The walks are, as usual, toward the bottom of the league, while the strikeouts are in the middle. Now, I think it’s worth noting that they had a walk rate of 8.2 percent and a strikeout rate of 18.5 percent before Wednesday’s game and a slash line of .255/.329/.404 before Tuesday’s game. I only say that to highlight the impossibly small sample we’re dealing with here.