Royals Rumblings - News for May 29, 2025
Back in the win column.
Noah Cameron has had a historic start to his career:
In four starts, Cameron has posted a 1.05 ERA. He hasn’t allowed more than one run in any of his four starts. He has gone at least 6 1/3 innings in each of them, too.
That makes Cameron just the second pitcher since 1893 with 6 1/3-plus innings and one run or less in his first four MLB appearances, all starts, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The first was Cody Anderson for Cleveland in 2015.
And Cameron is the second in Royals history to begin his career with at least four straight quality starts, joining Steve Busby, who began his career with five.
In the midst of dominating Triple-A, Jac Caglianone is not stressing about a potential call-up ($):
“It makes me feel pretty good,” he said. “I haven’t even been there yet, and I can already feel the love from the people of Kansas City. So I’m super thankful for it. Hopefully it stays that way.”
As for a likely summer promotion to K.C., Caglianone said he’s not worried about the timing.
“It’ll happen when it happens,” he said.
Kiley McDaniel has the Royals selecting Ike Irish 23rd overall in his latest mock draft:
Irish has a lot of momentum after finishing second in the SEC in OPS in conference games after a slow start. There are landing spots for him all over the first round, including the top half of the round, so this is near the latter end of his range. As usual, the Royals are being tied to a number of prep pitchers so I’d assume they would line up a few in their next picks after taking Irish here in this scenario.
Preston Farr at Farm to Fountains looks at what has gone wrong with the Royals offense:
The uber-aggro approach that Zumwalt and Co. have pushed has led to some expected numbers. The team was 26th in chase rate in 2023 at 31.3%. They improved marginally to 24th in 2024 (30.2%), bottoming out at 28th so far in 2025. The Royals swing a lot and they seem to swing at just about anything. And now, the team has done it long enough that the rest of the league has certainly caught on. The Royals are 29th in barrel rate this season, stemming at least somewhat from a drop in hard-hit rate. The 2024 Royals were 7th in hard-hit rate, but have followed that up in 2025 by ranking 25th thus far. They’re no longer barreling the baseball and no longer hitting the ball harder than the rest of the league. We’ve reached a point where it makes sense to start asking: are the Royals making too much contact?
Kevin O’Brien at The Royals Reporter investigates Bobby Witt Jr.’s recent slump:
Then again, chasing may be part of his game and isn’t necessarily a sign that Witt is due for major regression. Star hitters such as Jackson Merrill, Bryce Harper, Corbin Carroll, and CJ Abrams also have high chase rates, and they’ve been productive hitters in key spots in the batting order for their respective teams.
That said, Witt reigning things down a bit with the chases could help lessen the whiffs. Those two positive adjustments could help him get back on track with the bat, as was the case a couple of weeks ago.
The Royals released Nelson Velázquez as part of a series of minor league roster moves.
Seth Lugo is set to return from the IL tomorrow, while Cole Ragans should go for a rehab start soon.
MLB’s Home Run Derby X is coming to Kansas City this September and will feature several players from the 2015 World Series team.
An affiliate of the Royals purchased the mortgage for the Aspiria campus in Overland Park.
Ryan O’Hearn talked to David Laurila at FanGraphs about how he’s managed to turn his career around after departing Kansas City.
The Rockies are looking even worse this year than the White Sox did last year.
Numerous stars reached out to Marlins rookie Ronny Simon after a particularly bad game on Tuesday.
The Chicago Cubs are signing left-handed pitcher Génesis Cabrera.
Veteran right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson is headed to Tampa Bay on a minor league deal.
Old friend Nicky Lopez is headed to Arizona in a minor league deal.
Old friend Jackson Kowar has completed his Tommy John rehab and was added to Seattle’s roster.
Houston right-handed pitcher Ronel Blanco needs Tommy John surgery.
Vanderbilt is the top overall seed, but North Carolina is the top-ranked team in the land heading into Regionals.
People continue to be unable to be normal about Caitlin Clark.
The Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the Minnesota Timberwolves to win the Western Conference and advance to the NBA Finals.
The Florida Panthers did the same to the Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for a third straight year.
There is a very strange world of framed sports jerseys on Amazon.
What’s next for Tom Cruise following the end of the Mission: Impossible franchise?
Starlink may be the end of a plan for nationwide fiber internet.
Your song of the day is Not At This Party (David Guetta Remix) by Dasha.