KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
RALLY FALLS SHORT: The Royals suffered a 3rd straight loss yesterday in a 6-3 decision vs. the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium…Jordan Lyles recorded 9 strikeouts and did not walk a batter in 5.2 innings, but yielded 5 runs on 8 hits, including a 2-run double by Matt Chapman in the 1st and solo homers later in the game by Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr…Biggio’s HR was the 1st allowed by a Royals starting pitcher this season, snapping a run of 34.1 homerless innings over 6-plus starts…the Royals offense was held in check until the 8th, when the first five batters reached to begin the frame, including a solo home run by Bobby Witt Jr., which snapped the Royals scoreless streak at 23.0 innings and was the team’s 1st extra-base hit since the 2nd inning on Tuesday (Franmil Reyes HR), snapping a drought of 87 plate appearances in between… Vinnie Pasquantino and Edward Olivares had back-to-back RBI hits to cut the deficit in half, which brought the tying run to the plate with no outs, but the Royals went groundout, strikeout, strikeout to end the threat.
ROSTER MOVES: The Royals announced today that OF Kyle Isbel has been reinstated from the Paternity List after he and his wife, Priscilla, welcomed their first child, a son, together on Wednesday…in a corresponding move, IF Nick Pratto was optioned to Triple-A Omaha following yesterday’s game…he went 1-for-7 in 2 games.
SLOW START: The Royals went 1-6 vs. Minnesota (0-3) and Toronto (1-3) on the homestand, which as their longest season-opening stay since 1990, when they began with 8 home games vs. Baltimore (1-1), Toronto (1- 2) and Cleveland (2-1)…this is the first time they’ve had back-to-back losing series to begin the season since 2010, when they lost two of three to both Detroit and Boston…the Royals are 1-6 for the second time in their 55- year history, following the 1993 team that started 1-6 but bounced back and finished the season 84-78 (.519).
PITCHING IN: Despite the 5 runs allowed by Jordan Lyles over 5.2 innings in yesterday’s loss, the Royals starting rotation ranks 8th in the Majors with a 3.41 ERA (14 ER in 37.0 IP), which marks a significant improvement on their 4.76 ERA (440 ER in 832.2 IP) from last season, when Royals starters ranked 27th out of 30 teams.
Four Royals pitchers yesterday combined for 12 strikeouts and no walks, marking just the sixth such game in club history and the first since 2019 (see chart to right)…Kansas City’s 2.81 K/BB ratio ranks 11th in the Majors this season, which also marks a big improvement over 2022, when they ranked 29th at 2.12.
Royals pitchers have combined to throw first-pitch strikes at a 62.7% rate, which ranks 10th in the Majors through 7 games and is a significant improvement over last season, when they ranked 30th at 58.0%.
JUST KEEP SWINGING: Through the first 7 games, the Royals offense has been shut out three times, and ranks 30th in the Majors in batting average (.167), slugging percentage (.278) and OPS (.537)…they scored 9 runs in Saturday’s win vs. Minnesota but have combined for just 8 runs in their remaining 6 games, and their 17 total runs are their 5th fewest in franchise history through 7 games…despite the lack of results, the advanced metrics show promise in the Royals approach, as they rank 2nd in the Majors, according to Baseball Savant, with a 91.3 mph average exit velocity, which trails only the Dodgers (91.8 mph)…the Royals also rank 4th in the Majors with a 48.1% Hard Hit Rate (defined as balls with an exit velocity of 95.0 mph or greater), trailing the Dodgers (53.8%), Cardinals (49.4%) and Rays (48.4%)…but despite consistently making hard contact, the Royals rank last among all 30 teams with a .208 Batting Average on Balls in Play and their expected batting average is 65 points higher than their actual batting average, another stroke of bad luck that is the largest gap in the Majors.
ROAD WORK: The Royals begin their road schedule today with the 1st of 3 games at Oracle Park, where they are 5-3 in regular season action since this ballpark opened in 2000…this marks Kansas City’s fourth regular season trip to San Francisco and second in as many seasons, as they lost two of three here last June…following this 3-game set by the bay, the Royals will continue this 6-game trip with 3 night games in Arlington starting next Monday…an off day next Thursday will snap a run of 12 consecutive days with a game, before Kansas City returns to Kauffman Stadium to begin a 6-game homestand one week from today.
The Royals went a Major League-worst 26-55 (.321) on the road last season and lost 11 of their last 12 road series, with their only road series win during that time coming last Sept. 2-4 in Detroit…their only winning road trip last season came on a nine-game, 10-day West Coast swing from June 13-22, during which they went 5-4 at San Francisco (1-2), Oakland (2-1) and Anaheim (2-1).
AFTERNOON DELIGHT: Today’s 3:35 p.m. CT start marks the second of 4 straight day games for the Royals, including a pair of 3:05 p.m. CT starts tomorrow and Sunday…that means 7 of the Royals first 10 games will be played during the day, and they’re scheduled for 64 day games this season, which would match 2021 for their 2nd most in team history, trailing only last season, when they played a club-record 69 day games.
INTERLEAGUE INTERLUDE: As part of Major League Baseball’s balanced schedule for the 2023 season, the Royals will play all other 29 teams…today marks their 1st Interleague game of the season, after going 7-13 vs. National League opponents in 2022…the Royals are 13-6 (.684) all-time vs. the Giants, which is their best win percentage against any opponent and matches the White Sox (.13-6) for the best all-time win percentage vs. San Francisco…Kansas City has pitched to a 3.34 ERA in 19 regular season games vs. the Giants, which is its lowest mark against any single opponent, ahead of its 3.47 ERA in 16 games vs. the Mets…the Royals have gone 5-1-0 in season series play with the Giants, as 2022 marked the first year in club history in which the Royals lost the season series (1-2)…these totals do not include postseason play, as Kansas City fell to San Francisco in 7 games in the 2014 World Series, which marked the Royals first appearance in the Fall Classic in 29 years.
Salvador Perez is on the verge of several franchise Interleague records, as his next hit vs. a National League opponent will break a tie with Alcides Escobar (170) for the 2nd most in Royals history, trailing only Alex Gordon (210)…Salvy’s next RBI in Interleague play will break a tie with Gordon (94) for the franchise record, and he’s 3 runs shy of matching Carlos Beltrán (69) for 3rd most in Royals history.
CAPTAIN SALVY: The Royals announced last week on Opening Day that Salvador Perez has been named team Captain…Perez, 32, joins Royals Hall of Famers George Brett (1989-93), Frank White (1989-90) and Mike Sweeney (2003-07) as the only team Captains in club history…Salvy is a seven-time American League All-Star, a five-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, a four-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a two-time Royals Les Milgram Player of the Year…he was unanimously named the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 World Series, and ranks among the Royals all-time leaders in home runs (223, 2nd), RBI (732, 7th), extra-base hits (472, 7th), total bases (2,209, 8th), doubles (238, 9th) and hits (1,280, 8th).
PACE OF PLAY: The new pitch timer rules implemented for 2023 have already produced dramatic results through the first eight days of the season…through 93 games that have ended in 9 innings, the average game time has been 2 hours, 36 minutes, and only 12 of the 93 games (12.9%) lasted at least 3 hours…the Royals 7 games have averaged 2 hours, 28 minutes, which is 8 minutes below the league average…compared to 9-inning games across the Majors last season, average time of game is down 27 minutes, while batting averages are up from .243 to .248, runs per game are up from 8.6 to 9.1 and stolen base success rates have jumped from 75.4% to 80.5%…the current success rate of steals would shatter the Major League record set in 2021 at 75.7%.
TODAY’S STARTERS: RHP BRAD KELLER (0-1, 3.86)
BRAD KELLER will make his 2nd start of the season—and 107th start of his career— today vs. the Giants at Oracle Park…this marks his 1st career start against the San Francisco Giants, who will become the 25th different opponent Brad has faced in his career…he’s in his sixth Major League season after being acquired by Kansas City in a trade with Cincinnati, who selected him from Arizona in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft.
SEASON DEBUT: Brad suffered the loss in the 1st start of his sixth Major League season last Sunday vs. Minnesota, allowing 2 runs despite yielding 10 baserunners on 5 hits, 4 walks and a hit batter in 4.2 innings of a 7-4 Royals defeat…both runs scored on RBI singles from Ryan Jeffers in the 2nd and 4th innings…he walked the first batter of the game, but escaped the frame with a double play, then stranded the bases loaded in the 2nd and stranded one in the 4th…walked three consecutive batters with 2 outs in the 5th and exited in favor of Amir Garrett, who stranded all 3 inherited runners.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS: With a loss in his start last Sunday vs. the Twins, Keller extended his streak of starts with a decision to 16—in which he’s 5-11—which is the longest run of starts with a decision by a Royal since Tim Belcher earned a decision in 21 consecutive starts from Sept. 2, 1996-June 20, 1997…it’s the longest streak in the Majors since Max Fried went 16 starts with a decision in 2021 and it’s the longest run by a pitcher in the American League since Sean Manaea (17 starts) from 2017-18.
Royals Hall of Famer Dennis Leonard holds the club record with 26 straight starts with a decision (Aug. 26, 1997-June 23, 1978), in which he went 14-12.
HIGHS AND LOWS: In his fifth Major League season in 2022, Brad made 35 outings (22 starts), after a mid-season shift to the bullpen resulted in his first relief appearances since his 2018 debut season…despite the change, he eclipsed 100 strikeouts for the third year—second consecutive—but also posted an ERA north of 5.00 for the second straight season, just .30 points below his career-high 5.39 ERA in 2021.
Keller tied his career high with 14 losses (also 2019) while his 139.2 innings pitched were the most he’s thrown in a season since 2019 (165.1 IP)…despite spending the majority of the final two months of the season in the bullpen, he finished with 11 quality starts, 3 shy of Brady Singer, who led the Royals with 14.
He was one of two pitchers in 2022 with at least 11 quality starts and 14-plus losses, joining Seattle’s Marco Gonzales (18 QS/15 L)…that marked the second season of Keller’s career in which he posted that combination following 2019 (14 QS/14 L), and he joined Miami’s Sandy Alcantara (2019, 2021) as the only pitchers in the Majors to record those numbers twice in the last four seasons.
RISPY BUSINESS: Opponents batted just .245 (78-for-318) off Keller with nobody on base last season, however that mark rose to .319 (75-for-235) with runners on and rose even higher to .357 (45-for-126) with runners in scoring position…only two pitchers in the Majors surrendered as high of an opponents’ average with runners in scoring position (min. 125 batters faced with RISP), as Philadelphia right hander Kyle Gibson pitched to a .364 opponents’ average (47-for-129, 149 PA) and Washington left hander Patrick Corbin posted a .357 opponents’ average (60-for-168, 194 PA).
Twins batters went 3-for-9 (.333) off him with runners on base last Sunday, including 2-for-5 (.400) with runners in scoring position and 2-for-3 (.667)with RISP and 2 outs.
HELP WANTED: Brad went 6-13 as a starting pitcher in 2022 despite recording 11 quality starts, 2nd by a Royal to only Brady Singer’s 14…the Royals supported him with a total of 35 runs in his 22 starts, including 2 runs or fewer in 17 of his 22 starts, 1 run or fewer 12 times and no runs seven times… he finished with a 2.57 run support average as a starter, the lowest total in the Majors among pitchers who made at least 20 starts in 2022, and it set a new franchise low for a starting pitcher with the same qualifier…he only received 1 run of support in his season debut last Sunday vs. Minnesota.
FROM THE GROUND UP: Keller has a career 52.4% groundball rate, which ranks 4th in the Majors since the start of 2018 (min. 600.0 IP), trailing
only Dallas Keuchel (55.2%), Marcus Stroman (54.8%) and Luis Castillo (52.6%)…likewise, his lifetime HR/9 rate of 0.83 (59 HR in 638.1 IP) ranks tied for 4th in the Majors since 2018 (min. 600.0 IP), trailing Jacob deGrom (0.71), Zack Wheeler (0.76) and Max Fried (0.78)…his groundball percentage improved last season as he posted a 53.6% clip, but he allowed 17 home runs, 1 short of his career high set in 2021, for a 1.10 HR/9 rate.
He induced 1 double play last Sunday and has an American League-most 77 since the start of 2018, one more than Seattle’s Marco Gonzales (76). BRAD TO THE RESCUE: Keller earned his 1st career save in the sweep-clinching victory over the Twins last Sept. 22, in what was his 136th Major League appearance…he did not have a save in his minor league career either, as 100 of his 106 appearances were starts…he became the 16th Royal to make at least 20 starts in a season while also recording a save, and the first to do so since Danny Duffy made 24 starts and had 1 save in 2015.
UNFAMILIAR FACES: Brad is set to face San Francisco for the first time in his career, as the Giants will become the 25th different opponent he has faced, leaving only the Diamondbacks, Marlins, Mets and Rockies as teams he has still yet to oppose…the NL West is the division he’s faced the least, and all 3 of his career appearances (1 start) came last season, on Aug. 13 vs. the Dodgers as a starter and on Aug. 26 and 28 vs. San Diego out of the bullpen. Ê Despite only having 3 previous outings vs. the NL West, he’s no stranger to Interleague play, as he’s posted a 3.87 ERA (52 ER in 121.0 IP) over 25 appearances (20 starts) vs. National League teams, which is notably lower than his 4.33 ERA (249 ER in 517.1 IP) in his career vs. AL opponents.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: Fresh off their first road trip of the season, the Giants return home today to open up a six-game homestand with the first of three against the Kansas City Royals… SF is 40-25 (.615) in home openers since 1958, including a 16-7 mark (.696) at Oracle Park (since 2000)…SF has won 16 of their last 22 home openers and each of their last two dating to 2021…last season, the Giants opened the season with a 6-5 extra inning, walk-off victory over the Marlins.
TALES FROM THE TRYP: SF went 3-3 on its season-opening six-game road trip but had stark differences in their offensive performances in the games they won versus the games they lost.
ARRIVEDERCI!: With five more homers yesterday, the Giants enter play today leading the Majors in home runs (15), just ahead of the Dodgers (14) and Rays (13)…SF’s 15 home runs through its first six games are the most they’ve hit through the first six games of a season in team history.
BANGARANG: The Giants slugged 13 homers in their three game series with the White Sox, tied for the most by a Giants team in the SF-era (1958-pres.) for a three-game series… the only other time it happened was April 28-30, 1961 at Milwaukee…a fun fact about that series is that SF was actually no-hit in the first game of the series by Warren Spahn so they hit the 13 homers over their final two games.
BUNCHA CRUNCH: SF has hit 15 home runs in its last five games…according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs this is the 10th season where the Giants have had at least one such five-game span with at least 15 homers along with 2004, 2001, 2000, 1987, 1961, 1954, 1948, 1947 and 1924.
SLICE OF PIE: Through six games, the Giants have scored 68.4% of their runs (26-of-38) via the homer…that percentage is second-highest in MLB behind only Miami (73.3%)…SF’s 26 runs scored via the homer are most in MLB (Stats, LLC).
RIGHT-O!: All 15 of the Giants home runs this season have come off right-handed pitching…in fact each of the Giants last 18 homers have come off righties dating to last year…in 2022, SF tied for 18th in home runs vs. RHP (114) (Stats, LLC).
HOMELAND: SF went 44-37 at home in 2022 and in the Gabe Kapler-era (2020-pres.), the Giants have played good baseball here on the shores of McCovey Cove…since 2020, SF is 117-78 (.600) at Oracle Park, sixth-best in MLB and third-best in the NL in that stretch…only the Dodgers (140-58, .707) and Braves (117-75, .609) have been better at home since 2020.
KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND: After day games during each of the six games on the road trip, SF kicks off its first homestand of the year with — yup — three more day games…according to Stats, LLC, the nine straight day games to open the year is the longest stretch by a Giants team since moving west in 1958… the previous longest streak to open a season was a seven-game stretch to open the 1995 campaign.
HOME OPENER WITH THE FAM…: SF has six players on its roster (including Mitch Haniger who is currently on the IL) that grew up in the greater Bay Area / Northern California area: Scott Alexander (Santa Rosa), Brandon Crawford (Mountain View), J.D. Davis (Elk Grove), Haniger (Mountain View), Joc Pederson (Palo Alto) and Logan Webb (Rocklin).
CRYSTAL BALL…: Since 2000, the Giants have hit at least 10 homers in their first six games six different times (2000, 2002, 2003, 2016, 2021 and this year)…in each of the previous five instances they went on to make the playoffs (SIS).
TODAY’S STARTER – ALEX COBB RHP #38
WITH THE GIANTS: Is in his 12th Major League season and his second with the Giants…he’s in his second year of a two-year contract (with a third-year team option) with the Giants that he signed on November 30, 2021.
LAST OUTING: Started the second game of the season for the Giants on April 1 at New York-AL…did not factor into the decision in the Giants 7-5 victory over the Yankees…threw 3.2 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) with six strikeouts…his pitch count was limited since he missed two weeks of spring training due to a left knee contusion…Cobb threw 38 pitches in the first inning and committed a throwing error, which led to a run, but he settled in after that allowing just one hard-hit ball after the 1st inning (Giancarlo Stanton home run).
VS. KANSAS CITY: Is slated to make his eighth career start against Kansas City…over seven starts, he’s posted a 2-3 record with a 4.57 ERA (22er, 43.1ip)…he last faced the Royals on April 12, 2021 as a member of the Angels and earned the win as he threw 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts…in his last three games against Kansas City, he’s struck out 23 batters over 18.1innings.
2023 SPRING TRAINING: Over four spring starts, Cobb went 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA (6er, 13.0ip), 18 strikeouts and a 0.92 WHIP…on March 11 against the Dodgers, he took a 102 mph line drive off his left knee…his tests came back negative and he was diagnosed with a left knee contusion…he was able to make his next start on March 16 at Seattle where he tossed 5.0-scoreless innings, but his knee continued to bother him and he did not make another spring start as he experienced some residual swelling down his leg…on Monday, March 27, he threw 4.0 innings (52 pitches) in Scottsdale in a backfield game and came out feeling good.
LAST SEASON: Finished the 2022 season and his first with the Giants going 7-8 with a 3.73 ERA over 28 starts…it was Cobb’s first season in the National League after 10 seasons in the American League with Tampa Bay (2011-2017), Baltimore (2018-2020) and Los Angeles-AL (2021)…his 149.2 innings were more than each of the last three seasons…he posted a career high in strikeouts (151) and his 3.73 ERA was his best over a full season since 2017 (3.66)…his 28 starts matched the second-most of his career (also 2018) and one shy of his career-best 29 from 2017.
PUNCHOUTS: With 151 strikeouts last year, Cobb set a new career high that he previously set in 2014 with Tampa Bay (149)…his 9.08 K/9 was the best of his career over a full season and his 3.51 SO/BB ratio is the best of his career excluding 2019 when he made only three starts due to injury…he had two double digit strikeouts games last season (4/12 vs. SD and 7/29 vs. CHC).
LICKETY SPLIT: Cobb used his splitter 42.5% of the time in 2022 which was second in all of MLB behind ATL’s Kirby Yates…Cobb had the highest splitter usage among starters… opponents were 66-for-270 (.244) with 62 strikeouts and a .226 xBA in at-bats ending with the splitter.
FASTER WITH AGE: Saw an uptick in velocity last year on all his pitches…his splitter averaged 89.6 mph which was 2.1 mph faster than at any point in his career…his sinker averaged 94.8 mph, 2.1 mph faster his second fastest velocity.
AGE IS BUT A NUMBER: Only five Giants over the last 10 years have started a game at an older age than Cobb, who in his last start was 35 years, 176 days (Stats, LLC).
