Kansas City Royals News: Pitching heats up as the bats cool off
By Britt Zank
Through the first seven games of the MLB season, the only thing colder than the weather is the Kansas City Royals hitters.
The Kansas City Royals hitters have an anemic .186 batting average so far this season which ranks 29th among the 30 MLB teams. They have the fewest hits (35), walks (15), home runs (2) and scored runs (15) in all of baseball. The only positive hitting stat the Royals have is they have struck out the fewest times (32) in baseball.
Nobody expected this offense to be scoring 10 runs a game, but nobody expected them to be this pathetic either. The fact the Royals have been able to win two games this season with this offense shows how strong the pitching staff has been.
More from Kansas City Royals
- This Plus-Money Bobby Witt Jr. Prop Bet is on Fire (Hit in 15/21 Games)!
- The Royals Need to Extend Bobby Witt Jr. Immediately
- DraftKings + FanDuel Kansas Promos: INSTANT $150 Bonus Plus Two Chances to Win!
- 3 Royals Players Who Won’t Be on the Roster Next Year
- LAST CHANCE to Claim $250 GUARANTEED Bonus With FanDuel and DraftKings Kansas Promos!
Outside of the opening day disaster in which the team allowed 14 runs, the Royals pitching staff has been solid. That first game killed their ERA which ranks 23rd in the league at 4.67. Since that first day the Royals pitching staff has only given up 16 runs total.
The pitching staff has been anchored by the starts of Jakob Junis and Ian Kennedy who have combined to give up just one run in 19 innings. In Junis’s only start of the season, he went seven innings allowing only one hit. The bad side of the Royals has been mainly the starting pitching of Danny Duffy and the relief pitching of Brandon Maurer.
Duffy has given up eight earned runs in only 9.2 innings pitched in his two starts this season while walking five and only striking out eight. Maurer has been horrible, blowing two saves and giving five earned runs in just two innings pitched. If he never sees the field again for the Royals I would be a happy man.
Unfortunately, for the Royals, they have no room for error the way they are playing. The pitching staff has been good, but when your offense can only give you one run a game being good doesn’t cut it.
Here’s what’s trending in Kansas City Royals news throughout FanSided.
Ian Kennedy looking sharp after first two starts [Leigh Oleszczak, KC Kingdom]
"Simply put – Ian Kennedy has been incredible. He has an ERA of 0.75 and a WHIP of 0.83 in his two starts thus far and has a 1-0 record."
An early look at the Royals offense [Justin Jones, Kings of Kauffman]
"Hot might be too strong of a word for anyone on this team as of right now, so I am going with lukewarm. While some have been “lukewarm” others have already begun to struggle."
Kelvin Herrera key trade piece for Royals future [KC Kingdom]
"A key veteran who will likely garner attention from playoff teams is the Royals closer, Kelvin Herrera. The value of relief pitching in baseball has never been greater than it is today and he has the possibility of being the best on the market."
Check out what else is trending in Kansas City Royals news throughout the rest of the web.
If the Royals are going to be bad, they might as well be interesting [Matthew LaMar, Royals Review]
Life as a Royals fan, choose your own adventure style [Sam Mellinger, KC Star]
Human gas can Brandon Maurer dooms Royals, who lose 3-1 [Ryan Landreth, Royals Review]
Through seven games the Royals sit at 2-5 with no signs of help on the horizon for the offense. Players like Jorge Soler and Alex Gordon are just going to have to play every day and hope they can figure something out.
Next: 20 Bold 2018 Royals Predictions
On the pitching side, their biggest goal right now should be to not get frustrated and try to do too much. We all know they have to pitch perfect to give us a chance to win, but if they try to be perfect they’ll do more harm than good. They need to simply do their jobs and hope the offense catches up.
There isn’t much Ned Yost can do at this point for either side. The one thing he can do for sure is to keep Maurer out of any high leverage positions. If the Royals aren’t up five or down five he should not be in the game. For a team where runs are going to be few and far between, they can’t have a player like him blowing them every chance he gets.