Kansas City Royals Weekly Report: 6/28-7/4

The Kansas City Royals had a good week, going 4-2 while finishing a series win against the Los Angeles Angels, winning a series against Minnesota, and taking the first game of a three game set at Cleveland. Kansas City finishes their series with Cleveland this week before going to St. Petersburg to play the Rays for three games. The Royals then conclude their first half by hosting Detroit for four games.

Player of the Week

Alcides Escobar: .381/.409/.524

Escobar has been nothing short of fantastic for the Royals this season. His play has been critical for the Royals to get to where they are right now.

Honorable Mention

Yordano Ventura: 12 1/3 IP 7K 2BB 2.19 ERA

If not for Masahiro Tanaka and Jose Abreu, Ventura would likely be the front runner for AL rookie of the year. As long as his arm holds up, he should be a key contributor for the Royals for many years to come.

Play of the Week

The Royals first walk-off of the season makes for a pretty good highlight and it gave the Royals a series victory over LA.

Honorable Mention

Fortunately,

Mike Moustakas

hasn’t let his slumping offense affect the way he plays the hot corner. He had a couple nice plays this last week.

Notes

The Royals made a few transactions this week. The ones involving Raul Ibanez and Christian Colon can be found here, but those weren’t the only transactions the Royals made this week. Kansas City also dealt Donnie Joseph to the Marlins for cash. Joseph was acquired by the Royals in the Jonathan Broxton trade. During his tenure in KC and the Royals’ farm system Joseph had problems with command, which is probably why the Royals dealt him. Nevertheless, it would’ve been nice to have seen the Royals either hang on to him for longer or get back more in return given the strikeout potential he showed. The Royals also made a move in Latin America, signing Dominican shortstop Ricky Aracena for $850,000. Aracena has drawn comparisons to Rafael Furcal, which bodes well for his future. He likely won’t see the majors for at least another six years given his current age.
Kansas City opens the second half with four series against teams under .500. If the Royals are going to make a move, then would be a great time.
Unfortunately it looks like the Royals won’t have as large of a showing at this year’s all star game as last year. Salvador Perez looks to be a lock at this point, but that’s the only Royals with an extremely likely shot at making it. Alex Gordon‘s defense is likely to be overlooked in favor of better offensive players and Escobar is blocked by Derek Jeter‘s farewell tour. Greg Holland or Wade Davis may make it, but the bullpen is where they like to stick representatives from bad teams, so it’s possible the Royals are stuck with one All-Star selection for this year, which would be a shame.

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