The Royals have made big changes regarding their philosophy both on the mound and with their catchers with an eye on throwing more strikes and the results have followed.
It’s not that I expect them to be a top-five staff using these metrics all season, but as I’ve said before, when you make a change and expect that change to lead to certain results and then you see those results, it’s hard not to take notice.
And their strikeout-to-walk ratio was second-best. Their 26.2 percent strikeout rate was fourth-best. Heading into action yesterday, their team walk rate of 7.8 percent was fifth-best among all teams.
I can also tell you that they’re shining comparatively. They’re not facing exclusively big leaguers and there isn’t enough data to know whiff rates against big leaguers compared to minor leaguers, but that works. Royals pitchers who I project to make the Opening Day roster have a 26.7 percent strikeout rate and 7.3 percent walk rate. Royals pitchers who matter (those on the 40-man and NRIs with a real shot to contribute) have a 26.4 percent strikeout rate and 7.7 percent walk rate through 13 games. We also know that strikeout and walk rates tend to normalize quicker than many other stats. But, run differential can tell a story that gets clearer and clearer with a larger sample and spring run differential isn’t terribly different. So, no, a great spring run differential guarantees nothing. Everyone else was either below 70 (five of the six losing records) or above 83. What I found especially interesting from this exercise is that only one team won between 70 and 82 games. Does this mean the Royals are going to finish 10 games over. But the average record of the 23 teams was 86-76. There was one other team that lost 100+ games of the 23 teams and that was the 2016 Minnesota Twins. The Royals in 2019 were one of those teams with a run differential of +35 across the spring. Of those 23, 12 made the playoffs, 17 had winning records and 12 won 90 or more games. I went back to spring of 2015 and excluded 20 because they’re shortened springs to look at all teams with a run differential of +30 or better. The run differential for the Royals is currently +42. 500 hitter or that Brady Singer will carry a 40+ percent strikeout rate? I promise I’ll stop asking question, and the answer is of course not, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything with meaning. I actually think this breaks that law because spring isn’t entirely meaningless. And while that’s the case, I’m personally going to enjoy it.ĭoes a subhead in a notes article follow Betteridge’s Law of Headlines that states any headline that ends in a question mark can end in no? Does a first sentence? Does a sec…okay, I’ll stop. They are playing fantastic baseball, whether it counts for anything or not. I think most would agree I call the team out when the team needs to be called out, but I also truly don’t know what there is to call out right now. And if you don’t want to, that’s cool too. You’re allowed to know that it may not matter and may not lead to anything in the regular season and still have fun watching the team you root for succeed.
#Shortstop meaning how to#
I think my point is that while I’m not going to tell anyone how to “fan,” if you need permission to enjoy what this team is doing right here in this moment, I’ll give it to you. It doesn’t need to be drilled in every time someone says something good. I think there are too many who maybe just don’t want to allow themselves to enjoy what they’re doing because it’s “just spring training.” It’s almost alarming to me how many people jump immediately at anything positive to remind others that it doesn’t matter or that the Royals do this every year (though they are generally quite good in spring).
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