KC Royals: Brady Singer not as sharp in College World Series start

GAINESVILLE, FL - APRIL 26: Brady Singer (51) of the Gators delivers a pitch to the plate during the college baseball game between the No. 22 Auburn Tigers and the No. 1 Florida Gators on April 26, 2018 at Alfred A. McKethan Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL - APRIL 26: Brady Singer (51) of the Gators delivers a pitch to the plate during the college baseball game between the No. 22 Auburn Tigers and the No. 1 Florida Gators on April 26, 2018 at Alfred A. McKethan Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Brady Singer, the KC Royals’ first round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, started for the Florida Gators in the College World Series on Sunday. His start wasn’t nearly as impressive as his Super Regionals outing.

It was hard to top how well Kansas City Royals first round pick Brady Singer performed last weekend in the Super Regionals against Auburn and his start in the first weekend of the College World Series showed that. Singer wasn’t bad by any means, but he certainly wasn’t as electric as he was in Gainesville.

Singer ended his College World Series start allowing nine hits for five total runs while striking out four and walking no batters through 6.1 innings of work. It’s certainly worth noting that only two of those five runs were earned, as Singer’s defense let him down many times on Sunday against Texas Tech.

Unlike last weekend where Brady Singer started slow and then settled in, it was quite the opposite this time around. Singer cruised through the first two innings and then ran into some trouble. After a walk, a passed ball, and a sacrifice fly, the Red Raiders tied the game at one run a piece.

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From there, it was mostly downhill for Singer and his defense, as four more runs would score off of him. There was a graphic during the seventh inning that showed how rough of an outing this was for Singer.

The graphic indicated that this was tied for Singer’s worst game as far as hits and strikeouts were concerned, and tied for second worst when it came to runs allowed. The analysts did point out that only two of those runs were earned, which is definitely worth repeating.

The interesting part of this game is that Singer wasn’t even bad. As mentioned above, his defense let him down many times and that resulted in three extra runs crossing the plate for Texas Tech. Even with the two earned runs charged to Singer, he still didn’t look like himself in this game despite pitching decently.

It has to be a good sign that a quality start like this is considered as a bad outing for the Florida pitcher. This very well could be Singer’s last collegiate start too, as the Gators fell to Texas Tech and now will play in the loser’s bracket on Tuesday where they’ll have to defeat the Texas Longhorns in order to stay alive.

Jackson Kowar – another KC Royals first round draft pick – will start that elimination game on Tuesday and holds the key in if Florida will continue their hopes of repeating as College World Series champions. Kansas City Royals fans have gotten to watch Singer in two starts now and despite the “not as great” outing, they had to enjoy what they saw from their 18th overall pick.