Kansas City Baseball Vault

A new format to the Pine Tar Podcast after a week off. This week David and Clint talked with JJ Picollo about player development in the Royals system. When does the organization know when a player is ready for the next level and they view a few players within the organization. A few players that were talked about include John Lamb, Kyle Zimmer and Lane Adams. Prior to that J.J. interview Clint spoke with Adams about his season to date and whether he thinks he is ready for the jump to AAA and the major leagues. Also included in this podcast David and Clint discuss the Boston Red Sox series and what they think the upcoming strategy should be for the major league club at the deadline.

After a week off, we got caught up by talking about the Royals first half and some of the key positives and nega---areas for improvement.

Then we brought back Troy Olsen for a discussion of Billy Butler - why he's struggled, what expectations are placed upon him by fans and the organization, if he can return to form, and what happens next for him and his future with the Royals.

This week, we talked about the Royals' post-streak outlook and where they sit in the AL Central. Part of that evaluation includes the additions of Raul Ibanez and Christian Colon to the active roster. We're not sure how the Royals are going to use these guys, but it made for an interesting Monday, at least.

We then talked about an article on Baseball Prospectus about Dale Sveum and his key adjustment since taking over as hitting coach and the refreshing part of that adjustment - that it's not just buzzwords but actual application of an observation.

We also played with some Play Index information like Royals players over 40 years old, consecutive 5 inning starts, and where Yordano Ventura stands among Royals rookie starting pitchers.

This week the Kansas City Baseball Vault welcomed back Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star who talked about the Royals and their response to pressure after reaching (and falling out of) first place.

He discussed the offensive struggles of Eric Hosmer and how he should be moved down, as well as the Royals front office's approach to praise and criticism. Mellinger also talked about his newest project, "The Art of Scouting", a book by he and Art Stewart, Royals Hall of Famer and longtime scout. That book is due out in July.

After Sam went to go cover the game, Jeff and Mike talked about Hosmer some more and some of the factors that might have Ned Yost keeping him in the #3 spot. They also talked about lineup construction and its importance (or perhaps lack thereof) and looked at some alternative batting orders.

Be sure to stop by Kelly's Westport Inn if you're in the KC area, and if you're looking to find great baseball stats in one place, Baseball-Reference.com and the Baseball-Reference Play Index are the best places to go. Toss in "Royals" as your promo code to $6 save off the yearly subscription price.

Submit any interesting Royals stat finds to [email protected] for a chance to win a copy of the Art Stewart book or a copy of Willie Aikens' "Safe at Home".

While the Royals were beating up on Max Scherzer, Jeff and Mike were talking about the Royals' (then) approach towards first place in the AL Central and the excitement it's bringing to fans. We talked about some of what's gone right during the streak and some of the key performers, and we also let ourselves get distracted by the game itself here and there (it happens).

Then we talked about how to keep this going, and looked at who's rebounded from slow starts, who's been hot, and who's likely to keep this up. Over the last two weeks, the Royals have been on fire at the plate, but is it something they're doing differently or the numbers evening out after a slow start?

We've been supported in part by Kelly's Westport Inn for years and we're glad to partner with Baseball-Reference.com and their Play Index service for the near future. Help support the show by hopping over to Baseball-Reference.com and signing up for the Play Index by using promo code "Royals" to save $6 off the regular price of $36 - it's a great tool for detailed baseball stat research, and something we play around with every day.

If you find any great Royals stat trivia or trends using the Play Index, email us at [email protected] - towards the end of July, we'll give away copies of Willie Mays Aikens' book "Safe At Home" to three listeners.

Kansas City Baseball Vault, presented by Kelly's Westport Inn

This week, we talked about the Royals' success against St. Louis and New York and swapped some Cardinals fan stories in the process. We also talked about the upcoming set of games against AL Central teams and the importance to keeping the Royals in the hunt. With that in mind, we hinted at some thoughts on the trade deadline (but it's still a bit early to really look at that). We took a brief look at a possible reason for James Shields' struggles over the past few weeks, too.

Then we came back from break to talk about the batting order and Ned Yost's stubbornness with keeping Eric Hosmer in the 3 spot while alternatives exist. Along with that, we talked about some other players who could probably be shifted down the lineup in favor of hitters who have been more productive.

This week, the Kansas City Baseball Vault talked about the lack of depth and its leading to the Royals bringing Mike Moustakas back and Aaron Brooks into a spot start.

That tied into a discussion of Rany Jazayerli's column in the Kansas City Star about the Royals' development system and a comparison to the Oakland A's and how they approach their roster construction based on an article by Joe Posnanski. The Royals tend to assume things will come together; the A's take nothing for granted.

In the second segment, we brought up Dirk Hayhurst's post on Deadspin about the Unwritten Rules of Baseball and how they can get absurd.

After the Royals were swept by the Houston Astros, there wasn't a lot to be happy about on this week's Kansas City Baseball Vault.

In the past week, the offense has tanked, Mike Moustakas was demoted, Yordano Ventura got rocked and came out of a game in the middle of an at bat, and Kyle Zimmer was shut down for weeks.

So.

We tried. We really tried to be upbeat, but sometimes, there's just not much joy to be had.

Nonetheless, we powered through it and talked about the rough stretch, then we brought in Kevin Scobee, former pitcher at Park University and pitching instructor at Regal Athletic to talk about the kinetics of pitching and how that relates to what the Royals do in their training and how it may relate to the Ventura and Zimmer injuries.

We also discussed resistance to change, the Royals approach to swing paths, and there was even a cameo from Jeff's dog (dogs always make things better).

The Kansas City Baseball Vault is brought to you every week by Kelly's Westport Inn.

Will Carroll of Bleacher Report stops by to talk about the injuries to Yordano Ventura and Kyle Zimmer. He also speaks to what the Royals could be doing to prevent these injuries. Also on the show Baseball Prospectus Prospect team member C.J. Wittmann fills us in on the players the Royals have in Wilmington.

This week we had a lot to cover, including Danny Duffy's bid for a perfect game, Alex Gordon's bombs on Sunday, Sal Perez getting hurt, Justin Maxwell getting designated for assignment, 810 Zone snubs, and some developments in baseball that could lead to an alternative to Mike Moustakas.

Along with that, we also talked about some of the newly unveiled features of MLB's developing player tracking system and some ways it can be applied, which led to a discussion about just how to enjoy the game. There's been some discussion recently about the split between casual fan and hardcore stathead fan and how the game should be watched. Locally, Bob Fescoe has been critical of those who like to look at stats, while Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe wrote a
column suggesting that stat fans only wanted to look at stats and not watch the game.

Jeff and Mike think there's room for both, and they tell you why that is and how they watch a ballgame, and what that means in relation to the stats that are out there.