KC Royals: Five Lessons Learned After First Month

Lesson Five: The other teams, specifically the pitchers, have changed their approach.

Okay, so that may not be entirely true, but there are some stats to back this up.

Last season, the Royals had been plunked 20 times already. Those free passes were putting the Royals on base and often times they were turning into runs. The ones that didn’t turn into runs, got the Royals into plenty of bench clearing incidents before May even rolled around.

Last season, the excuse for the increase in being hit by pitches was that pitchers were trying to jam the Royals on the inner half of the plate. It stands to reason that more pitches inside would lead to more hitters being plunked.

This season, the Royals have only been hit six times and Alex Gordon owns four of those free passes. Is it possible that the opposing pitchers have started to go away from that ‘jam them up’ philosophy?

Let’s use Lorenzo Cain as an example. It’s fair to see he’s seen the most significant decline since last season.

Here is Lorenzo Cain’s heat map from the start of 2015 through present:

He was killing everything in the zone that was middle to low. He even hit well on balls below the zone that were middle or in. It makes sense given he’s a good sinker ball hitter. Also notice how his average declines on pitches that are inside or outside and down.

Compare that to the pitch tendencies he’s seen so far this season (The more red, the more a pitcher throws there):

Pitchers are peppering that lower outside zone and executing their pitches well. The biggest difference so far is that Lorenzo Cain is swinging and missing at more of these pitches than he has in the past.

The following chart shows how many pitches he swung and missed at so far this season. The more red, the more swings and misses.

Now take a look at the entirety of the 2015 season:

(All graphs courtesy of Brooks Baseball)

What’s somewhat surprising is that Lorenzo Cain is swinging and missing more on pitches in his wheelhouse this season. That could be at the expense of trying to hit for more power.

The other thing that comes screaming off the page is the lack of patience. He’s swinging at pitches outside the zone more frequently this season. Pitchers haven’t really changed their approach with Lorenzo, it’s his approach that has changed.

Last night Lorenzo Cain finally came through for the Royals with a walk-off hit. He and Moustakas shared the ‘Salvy Splash’ and he smiled for the first time this century (I’m not good with telling time). Maybe that was just the confidence booster he needed to get going.

Maybe the Royals need to get hit a few more times this season. Perhaps it will inspire that sense of ‘us against the World’ again in 2016. There does seem to be a lack of fire in the belly this year. It doesn’t seem like complacency though. It almost seems like they’re bored. It’s like the regular season has just become something that stands in their way until they wreak havoc in the postseason.

At least the starting pitching has been better than expected. Edinson Volquez has been phenomanal and Ian Kennedy has been right there beside him. Yordano Ventura looks all grown up and Chris Young and Kris Medlen have each done their best. It’s not the eye-sore it was last season and it’s the only thing keeping the Royals in the game right now.

The other positive is that the bullpen, at least the important pieces, have been as good as expected. Joakim Soria hasn’t earned the love of fans just yet, but each shaky, scoreless outing gets him one step closer.

Next: Best Rookie Seasons EVER!

Whatever the change in approach is this season, hopefully the ship rights itself soon. Ned Yost is going to Ned Yost his way through the season. That means no lineup juggling and no overreacting (or any reacting?).

Well what do you think KC Royals’ fans? What were your biggest takeaways from the first month of the regular season? Are the Royals ready to break out soon? Let me know your thoughts in the comments’ section below.