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The Guardians, with a record of 12-10 in June and four games remaining, head west for their first series of the season against the Kansas City Royals, who have the second worst record in baseball at 22-56. The Royals are 10-28 at home and have lost 18 of their last 23 games. They are basically in a free fall.
The Guardians are 17-21 on the road and two games behind Minnesota in the Central. The Twins play 9 of their remaining 12 games before the break against Atlanta and Baltimore. The Guardians have a much easier schedule over the next two weeks with seven games against the Royals, three against Atlanta, and three against the Cubs. The Guardians have a realistic chance to go into the break in first place if they take advantage of the soft spot in the schedule, especially the seven games against the Royals.
Kansas City is averaging 4.2 runs per game at home, ranking 21st, so their offense at home is below average but not bad. They rank 23rd in batting average and on-base percentage. They are free swingers, ranking 28th in walks. But they are 17th in home runs and slugging percentage, so they depend more on power to score than on stringing hits and walks together.
Kauffman Stadium is the 3rd hardest park to hit home runs in but the 3rd easiest to hit triples, which tells me there is a lot of room in the outfield. In terms of runs it is the 5th best hitters’ park which explains why the Royals average 4.2 runs at home and 3.4 on the road.
If Amed Rosario becomes a free agent he should sign with the Royals. If he played every day he might set a modern day record for triples. But with Bobby Witt Jr at shortstop Amed won’t get an offer from KC.
Pitching has been the Royals’ biggest problem as they rank 29th in home ERA at 5.36. They’re 28th in WHIP and 30th in walks. It would behoove the Guardians’ hitters to be patient at the plate since nobody walks more hitters than the Royals, but that’s not exactly the Guardians’ strong suit as they rank 29th in out-of-zone swing percentage, even with Oscar Gonzalez in Columbus. The Royals are 25th.
At least we won’t have Whit Merrifield to deal with anymore as they finally traded him. Salvador Perez at age 33 is still chugging along, hitting .263/.772 to lead the Royals in OPS. Perez is hitting .276/.805 at home and .286/.860 against right-handed pitching and he has both going for him this series. He’s slumping in June, however, batting just .210 with 7 RBI’s. He has three home runs off Bieber.
Nobody else on their team is putting up impressive numbers at the plate. Bobby Witt Jr, who is supposed to be the next franchise cornerstone, is hitting .247/.717, but he does have 12 home runs. Perez and Witt have combined to hit 14 of the teams’ 33 home runs at Kauffman Field if you don’t count the home runs by injured players. Vinnie Pasquantino is out for shoulder surgery; he had 9 homers and a .762 OPS in 61 games.
Gavin Williams leads it off against Brady Singer, a 26-year-old right-hander. Singer has had a disappointing career so far at 23-27, 4.43 ERA. This year he has been worse; 4-7, 6.34 with an elevated WHIP of 1.57. However, he’s been getting better. His monthly ERA’s from April through June are 8.49, 5.47, and 4.43. For the season batters are hitting .294/.868 off him, but that includes his awful April and bad May. He’s been decent in June.
Current Guardians are hitting .359/.949 against Singer. Kwan is 5-for-10, Jose 6-for-17, and Straw actually found somebody he can hit at 6-for-13.
Williams will be making his second start after allowing 4 runs in 5.1 innings against the A’s. The good news is that all the damage by the A’s was done by the first four batters in the 3rd inning; three base hits and a home run. Other than that one glitch he pitched 5.2 scoreless and hitless innings.
The Royals have not named a starter for tomorrow against Logan Allen. Shane Bieber goes against Zach Greinke in the finale on Thursday which will be an afternoon game. Greinke is 1-8, 5.31 and has allowed 19 runs in his last 19 innings. But he went 1-0 with a 1.19 ERA in four starts against the Guardians last season.
The Guardians are 17-21 on the road and two games behind Minnesota in the Central. The Twins play 9 of their remaining 12 games before the break against Atlanta and Baltimore. The Guardians have a much easier schedule over the next two weeks with seven games against the Royals, three against Atlanta, and three against the Cubs. The Guardians have a realistic chance to go into the break in first place if they take advantage of the soft spot in the schedule, especially the seven games against the Royals.
Kansas City is averaging 4.2 runs per game at home, ranking 21st, so their offense at home is below average but not bad. They rank 23rd in batting average and on-base percentage. They are free swingers, ranking 28th in walks. But they are 17th in home runs and slugging percentage, so they depend more on power to score than on stringing hits and walks together.
Kauffman Stadium is the 3rd hardest park to hit home runs in but the 3rd easiest to hit triples, which tells me there is a lot of room in the outfield. In terms of runs it is the 5th best hitters’ park which explains why the Royals average 4.2 runs at home and 3.4 on the road.
If Amed Rosario becomes a free agent he should sign with the Royals. If he played every day he might set a modern day record for triples. But with Bobby Witt Jr at shortstop Amed won’t get an offer from KC.
Pitching has been the Royals’ biggest problem as they rank 29th in home ERA at 5.36. They’re 28th in WHIP and 30th in walks. It would behoove the Guardians’ hitters to be patient at the plate since nobody walks more hitters than the Royals, but that’s not exactly the Guardians’ strong suit as they rank 29th in out-of-zone swing percentage, even with Oscar Gonzalez in Columbus. The Royals are 25th.
At least we won’t have Whit Merrifield to deal with anymore as they finally traded him. Salvador Perez at age 33 is still chugging along, hitting .263/.772 to lead the Royals in OPS. Perez is hitting .276/.805 at home and .286/.860 against right-handed pitching and he has both going for him this series. He’s slumping in June, however, batting just .210 with 7 RBI’s. He has three home runs off Bieber.
Nobody else on their team is putting up impressive numbers at the plate. Bobby Witt Jr, who is supposed to be the next franchise cornerstone, is hitting .247/.717, but he does have 12 home runs. Perez and Witt have combined to hit 14 of the teams’ 33 home runs at Kauffman Field if you don’t count the home runs by injured players. Vinnie Pasquantino is out for shoulder surgery; he had 9 homers and a .762 OPS in 61 games.
Gavin Williams leads it off against Brady Singer, a 26-year-old right-hander. Singer has had a disappointing career so far at 23-27, 4.43 ERA. This year he has been worse; 4-7, 6.34 with an elevated WHIP of 1.57. However, he’s been getting better. His monthly ERA’s from April through June are 8.49, 5.47, and 4.43. For the season batters are hitting .294/.868 off him, but that includes his awful April and bad May. He’s been decent in June.
Current Guardians are hitting .359/.949 against Singer. Kwan is 5-for-10, Jose 6-for-17, and Straw actually found somebody he can hit at 6-for-13.
Williams will be making his second start after allowing 4 runs in 5.1 innings against the A’s. The good news is that all the damage by the A’s was done by the first four batters in the 3rd inning; three base hits and a home run. Other than that one glitch he pitched 5.2 scoreless and hitless innings.
The Royals have not named a starter for tomorrow against Logan Allen. Shane Bieber goes against Zach Greinke in the finale on Thursday which will be an afternoon game. Greinke is 1-8, 5.31 and has allowed 19 runs in his last 19 innings. But he went 1-0 with a 1.19 ERA in four starts against the Guardians last season.
