Free Agent Signings:
Carlos Santana
Mike Minor
Michael Taylor
Ervin Santana
Top 10 Prospects:
1 Bobby Witt Jr., SS
2 Asa Lacy, LHP
3 Daniel Lynch, LHP
4 Jackson Kowar, RHP
5 Erick Pena, OF
6 Nick Loftin, SS
7 Kyle Isbel, OF
8 Khali Lee, OF
9 Jonathan Bowlan, RHP
10 Carlos Hernedez, RHP [Reply]
Originally Posted by cosmo20002:
He'd really help himself if he could learn to not swing at everything. He swings at so much garbage.
Terry Bradshaw has really helped Salvy's approach this year and honestly if he can keep doing what he's doing at the plate for 3 more seasons he's going to be in good shape. Reminds me of the impact Seitzer had on Alex Gordon (but still ended up getting fired reportedly due to Hosmer and Moose having down years and Frenchy not caring for him).
Originally Posted by tk13:
That was the interesting part of the conversation, they were talking like Yadi is almost a guarantee. But he's also considered the best defensive catcher of his generation so I get it. But if Salvy racks up another couple gold gloves and gets to 300 HR, he's going to have quite the resume. Maybe not the offensive resume of Mike Piazza and not quite the defensive reputation of Yadi but an outstanding career in both areas.
I remember C3IEF3S and I joked around after the 2015 World Series that if Cards fans always used Yadi's hardware as a justification for him getting in the hall, Royals fans could do that for Sal. It makes me thrilled that out of the entire core in 2014-2015, the Royals ended up locking up the heart of their franchise who has only gotten better with age and has now made this a legitimate conversation. It also would add even more significance to that 2015 title if Salvy ended up getting into the Hall. [Reply]
CBS Sports with an interesting article about the Atlantic League's experiment with moving the mound back. The pitchers, by and large, hate it, and it's also not having the desired effect according Rob Arthur of Baseball Prospectus. Pitchers have actually been throwing more fastballs (Pitchers have reportedly struggled to locate their breaking pitches as they're breaking more with the mount back a foot) and home runs and strikeouts have actually increased since the move. The biggest claim in the article is that Atlantic League pitchers were reportedly forbidden to speak out against the mound move.
Yeah, Salvy needs to have more offensive seasons like 2020 and this year. He seems to have turned a corner and elevated his game offensively from previous years. His defense has always been solid. Yeah, some like to ding him for being a bad pitch framer (and he is), but he’s elite in almost every other important catching metric.
He’s not anywhere close to Piazza, offensively, but Piazza was awful at defense. Yadi is a better defensive catcher, but I would argue Sal while still really good defensively has been a much more consistent offensive player over the course of his career as a catcher and is now starting to elevate that part of his game.
Yadi’s HOF case will be an interesting one to watch, no doubt. If he gets in, that swings the door wide open for Sal (assuming he continues producing offensively like he has the last couple years).
He’s one guy I would like to see stay a Royal for the entirety of his career. If he continues to evolve offensively, he can make a really strong DH for the Royals in his twilight years after the catching days have passed him by . . . . . . [Reply]
Originally Posted by cosmo20002:
He'd really help himself if he could learn to not swing at everything. He swings at so much garbage.
I assume we are talking about Salvy here. I still haven't understood why pitchers A) ever throw him a strike and B) ever throw him a fastball.
What am I missing? Sure you might walk him a small amount more but it would make him way less effective. The approach to throw a fastball when you are behind in the count is not really applicable or something you should do very often if the guy has one of the least patient in baseball. If he's Bryce Harper, yeah sure, you kinda have to challenge him but Salvy is gonna swing at it. Now, he still might get a hit because he's uber talented but at least you make him work for it and harder to homer on you.
I saw a stat the other day that his OPS on fastballs is like 1.25 and on breaking & junk pitches like .588. I'm sure that is a bigger disparity than most by far. And he's the best player in baseball when he's ahead in the count. Why? Because pitchers then for some reason think they have to throw a strike. They do not. [Reply]
Salvy's candidacy will also be boosted if Royals have postseason success with this new group. If Royals have one or two 90-win teams and advance to ALCS or World Series and Salvy is key player that would help a lot.
I believe that can happen soon. Looks like starting pitching and lineup is going to be good enough. Hopefully, bullpen can develop the reliability that you need. [Reply]
Well Olivares is back with the big league club and riding the pine in his first game back, so Ryan O' Hearn can look like an idiot in RF.
We must do everything in our power to find a spot in the field for the turd burglar, because his bat is too damn important. This god damn organization and it's infatuation for playing shitty players is insane. [Reply]