Royals Rumblings - News for October 31, 2024

Boo!

Bobby Witt Jr. sent out wedding invitations in the form of baseball cards:

Carter Jensen doesn’t feel added pressure from his KC roots:

“It’s not as much pressure, it’s excitement,” Jensen said. “It makes me want to work harder, especially when I’m at those games. How the organization is going right now, people filling the stands. It’s a lot of fun being there. I feel a little bit of pressure, but overall I try not to think about that too much. I try to focus on the end goal, just trying to make it there and contribute the best I can.”

Here is your weekly offseason Royals update:

• Jac Caglianone started four games at first base, going 4-18 with a double and a couple walks. He is hitting .228/.274/.333 across 62 plate appearances.

• Carter Jensen made one start at catcher and two as the DH, going 6-13 with two homers, a double, and two walks. He is hitting .393/.514/.857 across 35 plate appearances. Despite being second in the AFL with a 1.371 OPS, he is just 12th on the Saguaros in plate appearances.

• Brett Squires started three games each in right and left field, going 6-24 with a double and two stolen bases. He is hitting .180/.250/220 across 56 plate appearances.
• Daniel Vázquez started one game each at shortstop and second base, going 2-6 with a double and three walks. He is hitting .222/.333/.259 across 33 plate appearances.
• Luinder Avila made a three-inning relief appearance, allowing one run and striking out three. He has a 3.86 ERA with 12 strikeouts and six walks in 11.2 innings.
• Brandon Johnson made one appearance, surrendering five runs (four earned) in an inning of work. He has a 6.35 ERA in 5.2 innings with 7 strikeouts and one walk.
• Chazz Martinez gave up three runs with two strikeouts in his only inning. He has allowed three runs in 3.1 innings with four strikeouts and four walks.
• Shane Panzini started a game and allowed four runs (two earned) in three innings with two strikeouts. He has a 6.52 ERA with four walks and seven strikeouts across 9.2 innings.
• Anthony Simonelli tossed a scoreless inning with two strikeouts and a hit batter in his only appearance. He’s struck out five batters and allowed seven baserunners across five scoreless innings.

Moving over to LIDOM:

• Diego Hernández started five games and appeared in all three outfield spots, going 4-21 with three walks and a triple. He is hitting .294/.400/.382 in 40 plate appearances.

• Tyler Tolbert started four games in center field and one in right, going 4-16 with two doubles, two steals, and a walk. He is hitting .231/.259/.308 in 27 plate appearances.
• Andrew Hoffmann pitched a couple scoreless innings with a strikeout. He’s allowed two runs in 4.1 innings with three strikeouts and two walks.
• Beck Way made two appearances and retired just one batter while allowing two hits and walking three. He has surrendered three runs in two innings.
• Evan Sisk made two appearances and allowed three runs in 1.1 innings. He has allowed five runs in three innings with five strikeouts and two walks.

The Dodgers rallied from a five-run deficit, completing the gentlemen’s sweep and winning the 2024 World Series.

Freddie Freeman was named World Series MVP after his historic home run binge.

The Yankees banned the two fans that assaulted Mookie Betts from attending game five, but only after MLB asked them to.

The White Sox are hiring Will Venable to be their new manager.

MLB will test a ball-strike challenge system in Spring Training next year.

Every Kansas City Monarchs home game next season will be broadcast OTA in Kansas City, Wichita, and Topeka.

A U.S.-based women’s professional baseball league is set to launch in 2026.

Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren represent a new basketball archetype.

Reddit has become profitable for the first time.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I’m not much of a candy eater, so I need to ask you, reader, for your take on Halloween’s most contentious issue:

I could take or leave candy — I love Halloween because I greatly enjoy going to parties in costume. After I aged out of trick-or-treating (I think age 12 was the last time I did) I took something of a Halloween hiatus until my junior year of college, when I dressed as Wolverine. In the years since, I have appeared as Rickie Fowler, Agent K, Mr. Monopoly, Patrick Mahomes, and Mario. This year, I’ve known what my costume would be since March. That was when I saw my favorite movie of 2024 — Dune: Part Two. I immediately decided I would dress as Paul Atreides as portayed by Timothée Chalamet. I procured a stillsuit and crysknife, cut my hair, and even got some really blue contacts to complete the look.

Identical to the theatrical poster!

The spookiest song imaginable for today’s song of the day.