Kansas City Royals: Yordano Ventura is Forever Royal
Fireballer
Ace was a bit of an enigma at times and his immaturity showed on the field at points. His brothers (Royals teammates) would have to rein him in. He was like that knucklehead little brother.
Underneath that fire you knew there was a genuinely good dude, with the heart of a lion. I was there at the 2014 Wild Card game when skipper Ned Yost brought him into the game late in a high pressure situation.
Ventura promptly gave up a three-run bomb and many in the stadium thought the game was over at the point. We all know how that story ended though.
The Kansas City Royals did what the Royals do and bounced back to win that game in incredible fashion. They proceeded to set the baseball world on fire by making a run to the World Series.
Tragedy struck in the middle of the World Series when St. Louis outfielder Oscar Taveras passed away in a tragic car accident (also in the Dominican Republic). Oscar and Yo were close friends and instead of shrinking away, Yo rose to the occasion.
He started Game 6 the next night with Oscar’s initials and number scrawled on his hat. Ace then went out and dominated in honor of his friend. He pitched seven scoreless innings en route to leading the Royals to Game 7 of the World Series.
The passion and energy Ventura played with every game was especially evident on that night. For a kid who got shelled in his first postseason game, he turned around and showed great maturity in the brightest lights, on the biggest stage.
Talking heads around the league called him a liability and a punk because of his temper. He was ours though, KC to the core. You cannot deny the passion that he had for his team, this city, and its fans.
How many other major leaguers are playing softball with area kids the day after losing the World Series? I would rather have a player on my team that cares too much and gets a little fired up over one that cares too little.