KC Royals: Joakim Soria Doesn’t Deserve Being Booed
By Scott Dillon
The KC Royals new relief pitcher Joakim Soria deserves a lot of things from Royals’ fans. Being booed isn’t one of them.
Joakim Soria hasn’t had the reunion tour with the Royals that he was hoping for in the early goings. The problem is, no one should be out to hang this guy after he’s made eight appearances on the year.
Yes, the results are ugly, but he’s not pitching nearly as bad as most people think. Simply looking at the runs scored doesn’t do justice to the fact that he is actually experiencing a little bit of bad luck.
See this tweet from Royals’ beat writer Rustin Dodd:
An interesting stat: Joakim Soria leads all Royals pitchers in opposing hitters' exit velocity (82.7 mph) so far. (h/t @jessenewell)
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) April 18, 2016
Put simply, he has looked very bad on paper and most would argue that he hasn’t passed the eye test either. But he’s really not giving up hard hit balls which would again go back to a certain degree of bad luck.
Take ERA out of the picture for a minute. If I told you that Soria has a better Ks/9, BB/9, and K/BB ratio than Wade Davis and you didn’t know anything about the ERA or runs allowed would you assume that Wade Davis was a bad pitcher? Or would you instead assume that Soria must be a dominating pitcher? I understand that doesn’t paint the full picture.
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Soria has given up ten hits on the year compared to only one by Wade Davis, but his team-best average exit velocity indicates that he’s not getting hit hard.
No matter what the numbers are and even though his results don’t indicate his true value (I still think he’s going to come around), he doesn’t deserve to get booed by his own fans.
I have to be honest. When I woke up this morning and read that Joakim Soria was getting booed last night, BY ROYALS FANS, I was shocked and a little appalled. Has winning a World Series really poisoned this fan base so much that fans are going to start booing the team for anything less than perfection?
Two years ago, the Royals lost the World Series on a pop out to end the game. The Giants celebrated on the field and the Royals waited silently in the locker room. Outside in the stands, the fans stayed and chanted ‘Thank you, Royals!’.
When Miguel Cabrera become the won the Triple Crown a few seasons back while the Royals were in the midst of yet another losing season, Royals’ fans gave a standing ovation to the Detroit slugger for his accomplishment. That was a tremendous show of sportsmanship and a love of the game. Now, Miguel Cabrera got to experience a different kind of sportsmanship: the bad kind.
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Please know, that this is not directed at all fans. I know that not everyone is against Soria and I also know that not everyone who is against Soria is out there booing. I implore fans not to become spoiled with what has happened over the past couple of years.
Do not become dissatisfied with anything less than perfection. These players are human and are bound to make mistakes just as all of us do from time to time. Please don’t become the fan base that won’t accept flaws.
What the Royals have going on between them and the fans is special. Don’t spoil that by booing certain players. When fans boo one player, the whole team gets booed. It’s booing the ownership, it’s booing the coaches, and it’s booing the team that just brought a World Series title home for the first time in 30 years. Don’t give these players any reason not to want to stay in Kansas City.
For a few weeks the debate has raged on about which Missouri baseball team has the better fans. Booing our own players, isn’t going to help win that battle.
Again, I implore Royals’ fans everywhere to stay humble, hope for the best, and encourage this team. They have done so much for all of us.
That’s all I have on this issue. Rant over. What do you think KC Royals’ fans? Are you upset by the booing? Do you care? Let me know your thoughts in the comments’ section below.