Watching the Royals playing the Angels and I know it is early in the season, but this Royals team looks different, and it begins with pitching. The Royals are now 8th overall with a 3.36 ERA, and their starting pitchers have improved with Brady Singer is 3-1 with 2.36 ERA, Cole Ragan is 2-2 with 3.38 ERA, Lugo who they obtained via free agency, is 5-1 with 1.92 ERA. Alec Marsh is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA and presently he is on the injured list, but he is due back shortly. Wacha is only 1-4 with 4.85 but overall, that is a solid starting rotation. Relief pitching has been spotty in particular in the beginning of the year and so far there have been 5 blown saves. However, James McArthur has 8 saves, Angel Zerpa has a 1.69 and dependable left hander plus John Schreiber has a 3-0 record out of the bullpen with 1.04 ERA. Another dependable reliever was Nick Anderson with a 3.29 ERA. Overall, they are third, allowing only 132 runs allowed and 29 homers. They are better at pitching compared to last year, which last year was a disaster.
As for the offense, it has been essentially Salvy Perez who is hitting .326 with 8 home runs and 32 RBI while Witt is hitting .322 along with scoring 36 runs scored, 5 home runs and 13 stolen bases. Vinnie Pasquantino had a slow start, but he has 5 home runs and coming into this game, hitting .252 but Maikel Garcia has been hot and cold as he started hot but had extended slump but has comeback recently, but the outfield has been disappointment with Melendez at .182, Isabel .217, Renfore .147 and Nelson Velazquez at .207, hardly a killer’s row.
Overall, though, Royals is 8th with 184 runs, 8TH with 175 RBI’s fifth with 42 stolen bases, 5th in doubles, and even 14th in home runs at 39 and considering they play in the spacious Kauffman stadium, this is impressive.
The Royals have 18 quality starts, ranking third in the major league and Lugo leads the lead with 8. And the Royals defense has been an asset as well. They are second in fielding percentage, second with only 13 errors. In some ways there are similarities between the 2024 Royals and the 2014-15 edition, with solid defense, good starting pitching and timely hitting and now it appears that the bullpen is coming around.
The Donelson Files 