Mailbag Friday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

Mailbag Friday | Kansas City Royals Podcast

It’s one of our final mailbag Fridays of the regular season. So, let’s not waste any time and get to those questions next on Locked on Royals. You are Locked on Royals, your daily Kansas City Royals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. You are tuning in to another edition of Locked Ony and the Locked On Network. I’m your host Jack Johnson and you can find me on Twitter or XJ_15. That is Jonyj_15. You also can listen to us wherever you download your podcast. That can be Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Odyssey, and YouTube. Just be sure to hit the follow button and subscribe. For you firsttime listeners wondering how this channel works, I bring you episodes Monday through Friday, 30 minute episodes in length. and Chance Lebo in season brings you the lockdown Royals postcast where he goes to you live for about 15 to 20 minutes after all of the games. Now before we get started want to tell you that uh today’s show is going to be brought to you by 5Hour Energy this time. I lost my place there. Enough with the boring flavorless caffeine. It’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5hour energy shots. Go to ww.5ourgery.com or Amazon today. And a little programming note for next week. Um, I will not be able to do an episode on Friday. I’m actually getting married next weekend. So, the way we’re going to do this is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are going to be normal. And then by popular demand, this kind of was the same thing that happened a few weeks back. We’re just going to move our final regular season mailbag Friday to Thursday and then not have an episode on Friday. So, unfortunately, you’re not going to get the five episodes next week. just have some busier things and more important things going on. Uh but then when we come back on Sunday and then we’ll have that full week on Monday. We’ll be talking off seasonason uh for the Kansas City Royals and what they may need to look into and what players they may target. But let’s dive into our questions now for this episode. First one’s coming from Ed. What went wrong with the Royals fading? Couple things in my opinion went wrong. Number one, I believe that around the halfway point of the season, we kind of got this idea that they just were not a true playoff team. And credit to them, they treaded water for a really long time, but they never really had the horses to get that, you know, final spot in the wildard race. Seattle, they added more horses at the deadline. Boston never really wavered once they grabbed a playoff spot, and the Yankees didn’t either. Uh so to deal with those three teams and then you’re playing around 500 ball, it’s why they faded toward the end. Now if your question is in September, what’s happened here? It’s been a combination of playing good teams. You saw Cleveland, you saw Seattle, you’re seeing Toronto this weekend, uh the Philadelphia Phillies, another one, but also the Royals are just on fumes when it comes to their pitching staff. We know that’s their strength and they’ve got a lot of guys that keep winding up on the injured list and you’re counting on young unproven players to get the job done. You factor that into an offense that all season long has been inconsistent. It’s why we see this team at 76 and 77 and barreling toward finishing 10 games back of a playoff spot when it’s all said and done. David’s question, do you think Zumalt will be around long enough to absolutely ruin Jensen and totally make him abandon his approach? Well, here’s the thing with with hitting coaches. Um, and players are going to listen to tips that their coaches give them. But also, if a guy is settled in and is figuring things out at the plate, I believe we are going too far and saying he’s actively going to tarnish his approach or he’s going to ruin it. I have said this before and I I stand by it. I do not see Alex Zumalt as the hitting coach next year. I could see him going back into the front office for the role that he had prior to moving into that hitting coach role. Uh, and I would imagine the Royals will look elsewhere. Uh, so if that answers your question, I’ve already said it before and I don’t know if I’m going to go back on it. I see the Royals making a little bit of a change there. Not saying I would be stunned if he’s back, but I do feel after this year and what the offense was doing, uh, they might go in a different direction, but also keep Alex Zumalt around the organization. This one’s coming from Carter Jensen and Joyer. How do you think the split from Salvi and Jensen will look next season? I would imagine that early on it’ll be that Freddy Fain type role for Carter where Salvi’s playing behind the plate. He’s going to be out there every single day. But we’ll see Carter Jensen in that lineup a lot. if he has a really good camp and the Royals don’t add two big bats for that lineup. There’s also a world in which Carter’s an everyday player where maybe Salvador Perez is your DH and Carter is behind the plate six out of seven days of that week and Salvi catches the one day and then he’s dhing the rest of the time. This all comes down to how he finishes out this year, what the off season looks like and then his spring training. If Carter Jensen has a phenomenal spring training, I don’t know how you go into the regular season and say, “Well, we only want that in our lineup three days a week or two days a week.” I feel that you can get him out there, you know, every single day. If he can show that he’s the big- time prospect, they all expect him to be. Uh, so for starters, the way I envision it going, just because there’s only nine games left in spring training numbers, what more can you take out of it? You start him out in that Freddy Foreman roll. If he takes it and runs with it and Salvi’s numbers go down a little bit as an everyday catcher, then I believe you can make that switch into putting Carter into that everyday spot in the lineup. This one is coming from George. KC seems to be pitching rich right now. Assuming that Luga, Walka, and Reagans are in the 26 rotation, which of the rain remaining pitchers would you make available for a bat? I count five potential starters for two spots. Who, if anyone, do you make available? I would say that the most likely candidate would be Chris Bubich because he’s also coming up on a contract year. The problem is his value may not be as high as it once was cuz he’s coming off of the injury. Uh he is going to be in a contract year, so teams might be reluctant to giving up big time pieces for him. But I don’t know if I want the Royals moving Noah Cameron. They just got burgered in Kick and you’ve got the years of control and that’s why I would factor that in here. You have cheap players for multiple years. those top pitching factories in baseball, Seattle being one of them, Cleveland being another, when they have a player that’s coming up on a contract year, that’s when they move him. So, if the Royals could get a big return for Chris Bubich, I believe that’s the move you make cuz I honestly feel you have to decide between Noah Cameron and Chris Bubich or maybe even Reagan’s Cameron and Bubich and you have to have one of them out. As much as I love Chris Bubich, as great as I think he is, he’s the guy that’s, you know, closer to free agency than the other two. and Noah Cameron coming off this year, I feel that he can give that production that Chris Bubich would be giving you as well. Now, it’s going to take a lot for the Royals to move Bubich because I know they want him back. I know they want him in that rotation and for the time being, that’s where I have him. But if you’re asking me that question about who to make available, I’d probably lean toward Bubich. This one’s from Bobblehead Redo Guy. Who’s back? Who’s not? Talking office and coaches really in the front office. I I don’t see anybody leaving unless Scott Sharp was to take that job in Washington. I believe he’s the assistant GM. Of course, JJ Belell is not going anywhere. Maybe you could have some turnover with scouts, but there’s so many of them. I don’t really know if I could give you one person. And then with coaches, I see Mruro back. I see Brian Sweeney back. Zack Bove, Mitch Ster, Keone Duran. You know, Alex Zumalt’s the only guy I’m up in the air about a little bit because at some point you do have to maybe hold someone accountable for what the offense has done this year. Not all of it’s on Zumalt that really it comes down to the depth of this lineup. Uh but in situations like this, as we’ve seen before, Seattle did it last year. Someone’s got to fall on the sword if you missed the postseason. And there’s a glaring reason as to why. But I would still see Alex Zumalt in the organization more so in the front office which as I already mentioned that’s where he came from before coming down to be the Royals hitting coach. This one is from Caleb. How confident are you that Jack will be an above league average bat next year? I would say my confidence level is at like a a 70. Uh the only reason I would say a 70 and not 90 or 95 is that he hasn’t shown it yet and he’s a 155 hitter. So, yes, as much as I would like to lean into the optimism and say he can be a 250, 260 hitter, OPS plus north of 120, hit 30, 35 home runs, we all know he’s got the profile for it. He’s got the upside for it. But until you do it, I’ve got no reason to believe you can. So, that’s why 70% I go, he’s a 22-year-old guy that was a top 100 prospect, a top 30 prospect at that. You’ve got people outside the organization raving about him. And when that happens, I don’t see it being, well, this guy’s going to be phenomenal, one of the best home run hitters in the league, and then he’s a 160 hitter for his entire career. I I do expect him to improve. He was thrown into the fire this year. Now he knows what big league pitching is like. You make the adjustments, start fresh in spring training, start fresh in the off season, and he should be good to go. And that’s why my confidence level is around 70 to 75%. This one’s from Sam. How do we feel about Massiey’s error? And if that’s reviewable, what else should be reviewable by 2026? Well, we discussed it in our episode yesterday. And let me be clear because I saw some people saying, “Well, why aren’t you going to bring up that the Mariners are are great and the Royals suck in in that aspect or that, you know, the Mariners are good? Look at their record. The Royals are not.” What I simply said to open that up was that didn’t lose the Royals the game. They didn’t score a single run. So, that, you know, defensive alignment did not impact the Royals loss there. It gave the Mariners an extra run which made it more difficult, but they went scoreless for nine innings. That’s why they lost. What frustrates me is that I don’t know why we can look at that and slow down the game for it. That ground ball had no impact on where Michael Massie was lined up. Did he break the rules of it? He did. He knows not to line up there and his heels were on the grass. What’s frustrating is when you watch baseball, you want to limit those type of things, right? slowing down the game for maybe the bat uh you know the bat handle I should say ticking the ball or maybe grazing the jersey. We got to slow it down and take five minutes out of the game to review it. That’s what annoys me about replay review. I like it for close calls at first, maybe tagouts at second or third, but there’s just some stuff I think it’s pretty silly what we review. And I believe last night that was the first successful challenge for the defensive alignment. Michael Massie was lined up incorrectly. He broke the rules. He knows where to line up. But I thought it was pretty stupid that it’s an inch or two that his heels are on and it had no impact whatsoever on how he fielded that ground ball. Royals though got to score more than no runs and that’s why they lost yesterday to the Seattle Mariners. We’ll take our first break of the show. When we come back, still a lot of questions to get to next on Lockdown Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals in the Lockdown podcast network. I’m your host Jack Johnson and you can listen to us on wherever you download your podcast. Want to tell you about one of our newer sponsors here on the show in Zip Pix. For nicotine users, Zip Pix provides a discrete way to satisfy cravings and the hand-to-mouth habit without vaping or smoking. Zip Pix can be a helpful tool as you work to reduce your dependence on vaping and available in six great flavors with 2 mgram and 3 mgram nicotine options. And if you need energy without the crash, their caffeine toothpicks are a gamecher. Go to zipix toothpicks.com. Use code locked on and for 10% off, you get that for your first order. Must be 21 or older to order. Zip more, smoke less with Zipix Toothpicks. Next set of questions is going to be uh beginning with Paul. We all know it will take a current starting pitcher who has logged some MLB time this season, one of three catchers, and possibly a minor league starting pitcher to get a bat. So, which right-handed outfielders do you target as the middle of the order bat? Got to be a left fielder or center fielder with several years of control. Yeah, and we’ll probably get into that more next week uh when we break down some targets, trade targets at that. I feel the Royals might try to go the trade route over free agency because the more I look at that that free agent pool of outfielders, there’s nobody that really stands out as that perfect fit. I thought about maybe Trent Gisham as their new center fielder for what he’s done in New York, but does he fall back to what he was in 24 and not repeat what he did in 2025? It’s a big question mark there. And the Royals seem to be pretty satisfied with Kyle Isbel. Raone Laurana would be somebody you could look into in free agency. But if we’re going the trade route, uh Joe Adell, who torched the Royals, that’s a name I absolutely love. And the Angels bottoming out wasn’t that surprising. They’re now 15 games under 500 and they could have moved a couple of those guys. Maybe now is the offseason that they actually do. Um maybe you could look on the National League side of things and oh, I don’t know. You could always try to to reup your conversations with Cincinnati. He had the deal with Jonathan India last year. Um, that’s something, you know what, instead of trying to go through 50 players in my head here, let’s just save that for later on next week, uh, I’ll go through some trade options. Absolutely. We’ll do it as early as as Monday or Tuesday. So, you can count on that uh, from me. I just don’t want to give you names. I’m just throwing out there. I kind of want to do more of a deep dive into that. But, I believe it’s a the right question. I believe it’s what it will take as well. If you want to get a big impact bat, you’re going to need a pitcher in there. maybe a Blake Mitchell or Mo Ramirez. And you’re probably going to throw in another arm that’s in low A or high A at this point to really move the needle for one of those teams, giving you an outfielder with multiple years of control. Next one is coming from Keegan. Which starting pitcher is most likely to be uh dealt this off season for a bat upgrade? I’ll refer back to one of my answers with Chris Bubich. He feels like the most likely option. It wouldn’t shock me either if they tried to move Bayy Falter. you’re not going to get much for Falter, but he’s out of options and I don’t see why he would stick in the rotation or in the bullpen. You might be able to get somebody to jump on that that’s just trying to fill out their rotation or their bullpen. That would be my answer there. But for a big time trade, yeah, I would say that Chris Bubich has the likeliest chance of getting dealt. Maybe right after that would be Michael Walka, but you got to factor in the contract there. Next one’s coming from CRK. Thoughts on Q potentially putting too much of an emphasis on platoon sometimes? I understand the thought process, but today’s chance at a route in the eighth felt like it was wrecked by Gritic and Tolbert hitting for Jensen and Yas. Uh, you know, if you are against it, I would just say that it’s a part of his managerial style. He likes to get those advantages in the righty lefty matchups. And I I I said yesterday in our episode that I would have left Carter Jensen out there, but I’m also not the manager. And Randall Gridic was brought in to hit lefties. He hasn’t done that. And now I’d say for the rest of the year if there’s another situation that comes about, you leave Michael or not Michael Massie, you leave Carter Jensen in there. Uh maybe you do leave Michael Massie in there. You’re still trying to win games. But when the numbers are in front of you and Randall Gritick’s just been really poor as a Royal, maybe you don’t make that move. But I honestly don’t mind it. I didn’t mind it in the season. You just need to get better depth in those those positions. So, I would say that going into the off season along with getting that middle of the order bat, I want to see them get more length out of their bench. You can’t be putting guys that are hitting 185 up there to be your platoon bat. You need to have more reliability in that spot. And I’d imagine that’ll be a focus at some point in the coming months. This one’s from Prepsley. How likely do you think we try to get a new second baseman either through trade or free agency since India seems like a bust, someone like Jorge Palano? Well, Palano has been great for the Mariners. I I don’t know if he would be in the cards there. The name that I’ve thought about really because there was some smoke around this player in the Royals last year was Luis Arise. And Luis Arise is going to be a free agent. He’s 28 years old, so around the same age as Jonathan India. He’s poor defensively. So is Jonathan India, but he’s somebody that can hit 275 to 285 at the top of your lineup. I’m not sure if Luis Arise moves the needle that much. I’m sure he’d be affordable and maybe it’s something you look into, but you got two second baseman on the roster in Massie and India and they’re both under team control next year. Maybe you just don’t overthink it too much and try to get a bounceback year from one or both of those guys. Uh, okay, we’re going to jump over to YouTube here and the first question on YouTube is from Christopher. What evidence is there to suggest that Hughes knows what he’s doing? If his constant switching of the lineup never yields good results, why keep doing it? start the nine best guys. Well, I mean, it kind of comes down to what your expectations are for the Royals from the manager. You know, if you went into this year expecting them to be a a first place team, a 95 win team, I mean, I I had them finishing second in the division and getting close to winning it. That didn’t happen this year. Uh, but I also can factor in that last year he as the acting manager helped turn a team from a 106 loss season into the ALDS. I mean, you can’t be an incompetent manager and that happened, right? And I feel we get lost a little bit in, you know, giving credit to the manager in certain spots and then criticizing him for the other or not giving credit, right? So for last year, right, when we talk about the Royal success, it was the pitching, it was Bobby Wood Jr. and that absolutely was the case, right? That they give, you know, they get the credit. You you give them the praise for what they were able to do, but we don’t acknowledge when the manager is is leading that team, right? He is the one making those decisions. And then when the team struggles, it’s not the players not performing well, it’s the manager, right? So, I feel we we’ve done that for the entirety as as long as baseball’s been around, we know that it’s been, you know, something that we like to do. Oh, when the bullpen guy blows up, you know, in the seventh or eighth inning, it’s not his fault, it’s the manager’s fault. Or the pinch hitting situations, it’s not the guy who didn’t come through, it’s the manager. And I believe there’s always blame on both sides there. But for a guy that took a 106 loss team and was the manager for them getting to the ALDS the next year, I’m not going to say that he’s one of the worst managers out there. Now, here’s a key and here’s what needs to change next year. If the Royals miss the postseason next year, that’s when you can start to question some things. I just for the Royals inability to be consistent for really its again its entire existence. I’m not sure we overreact to canning the manager who has had this team in in back-to-back meaningful Septeers, one of them resulting in a postseason appearance. I just I don’t know if we should get greedy in that because then I mean I already know this. Whenever the next manager comes into Kansas City, we’re going to be doing the same thing over and over again. It’s always been that way. I mean, can we go back to the Royals in 2014 when there was a petition started to to can Ned Yoast or when everybody wanted him fired when he put in Yordono Ventura in the wildard game who gave up the three-run home run to Brandon Moss? Like, it’s all about how you’re perceived when you’re done. And now since Dead Yoast won a World Series, like we don’t even acknowledge, you know, 20, you know, 16, 17, 18, and 19 when the Royals didn’t make the postseason. It’s just the way it goes in baseball, right? You get frustrated with the manager. That’s not what the issue is of this team right now. The issue of this team is they don’t have a lot of depth. They were banged up this year and they need to improve in those margins. They need to be healthier next year. They also have to improve that depth. Let’s take our final break of the show. When we come back, still a lot of questions to get to next on Locked on Royals. You are tuning in to Lockdown Royals and the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’m your host, Jack Johnson. You can follow me on Twitter at johnnyj_15. want to tell you about two sponsors, beginning with prize picks. With football back, prize picks is the simplest and fastest way to get in on the action. Just pick more or less on two to six player projections, and you can turn your takes into real prizes, all in less than 60 seconds. Download the Prize Picks app today and use code locked on MLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code locked on MLB for $50 in lineups after you play your first $5. Prize picks. It is good to be right. Also want to tell you about our title sponsor in Five Hour Energy. Caffeine just got a flavor upgrade. Five Hour Energy Shots deliver tasty caffeine in 17 bold flavors. Each 2O shot packs the caffeine of a premium 12 oz cup of coffee plus B vitamins and nutrients with zero sugar and zero crashes. What I love most is how portable they are. Big taste, tiny shot, and you can take it anywhere and get that boost when you need it. Enough with boring, flavorless caffeine. It’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with FiveHour Energy Shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in store and online at ww.5hourenergy.com or on Amazon today. We will wrap up our final set of questions uh beginning with Logan. Is it more likely the Royals stick with India or find a second baseman through trade? Donovan, Brandon Donovan and the Cardinals and Bryce Tang sparked my interest. Terra of course with Milwaukee. Donovan might make a little bit more sense. I feel he’d be more affordable. I don’t see a world in which the Brewers would give up Bryce Terrain. That just seems like a position right now that the Royals would need to upgrade, but maybe you upgrade next year like at the deadline if you’re in it. Uh Jonathan India was brought in to be this team’s leadoff guy. That hasn’t worked out. Michael Massie, maybe they still view him as that league average bat. And when you got two guys there, you know, maybe it just doesn’t make too much sense to upgrade that position over, let’s say, left field or center field, like I feel the outfield needs all the focus this off season over second base. But if there’s a scenario in which you can upgrade that spot, I’m not going to be against it. Like you need to upgrade everywhere that you can. And second base, I’d probably put it at at three or four on my list of what the Royals need to attack in the offseason. This next one is going to be coming from William Rich Hill’s second start. His arm was drenched but no towel was given. Either Walka or Luggo had the same issue the next week and a towel was brought out. Elaborate with respect to first career home runs. Jack Kegleion got the silent treatment where Jensen did not. Why? PS. I’m not a fan of the silent treatment in that scenario. Your comment. All right. So, a couple things to attack here when it came to Rich Hill not getting the towel. I mean, I I don’t really remember that. Credit to you pointing that out or seeing that um on the broadcast or maybe you saw it in person. You know, maybe there just was a miscommunication there. Walk and Lugo getting the towel. Maybe them being more familiar with the training staff. They they just know that when they come off the mound, they get a towel to wipe off their arms and Rich Hill was only in his second start. Maybe it’s that. I I doubt it. I don’t believe that they were trying to treat him any differently. Maybe just there was some miscommunication there. As for the silent treatment, um I believe it came down to what the game was like at that point. If I’m being completely honest, Jack Kaggleó’s first home run came in Arlington and he had two home runs in that game and the Royals were winning. So, you can be a little bit goofier and silly in the dugout. When Carter Jensen homerred, it was 10 to nothing. So, acting silly and goofy in the dugout when you’re down that much, I don’t know if it’s the right look. Uh, and I’m not sure Carter Jensen was all that bugged by not getting the silent troop. It’s a funny thing they do. Players love it. Um, they they feel that it’s quite humorous. So, I don’t really have anything against it, but props to you pointing out both those things. That’s that’s something that kind of slipped past me truthfully. I didn’t see Carter Jensen not get the the silent treatment, and I definitely miss Rich Hill not getting the towel, I guess, when he could have used the towel in the dugout in his second start. This one’s from Thunderbat. Do you think a six-man rotation is an option for next year? Luga, Waka, Reagan, Bubich, and Cameron are the five main guys, but Burger and Kick have pitched really well in KC and deserve to be rewarded for it. I wouldn’t be opposed to it because I really want to see Steven Kick and Burger give starts for the Royals next year. It’s a crowded room though. It’s a crowded rotation and both of those guys need to stay stretched out as starters. So, I don’t see both of them in Kansas City to open up next year unless you just turn their attention into being relievers. And that I guess can be possible, but their upside is out of the rotation. And it’s why also with seven to eight guys that can start, it feels more likely they would try to move one of those arms to open up a spot for him because you, you know, acquired them in in uh in the trade deadline a few months back. But you also don’t want to get too too overzealous there, right? you got those pitchers so that you could have depth and then trading away pitchers to lose some of that depth. That might go against what you were trying to do. But I would not be opposed to a six-man rotation if it works out that way. But I’ve always been somebody that would rather save the six-man rotation for later in the year when your guys that have been starting all year need a little bit uh extra rest and extra cushion uh for the the every fifth day start. This one is coming from uh looks like John. Should Bubich be traded for a legit left fielder? Yes. The third question we’ve had on Bubich uh in this episode. They can look into it. Absolutely. I just wonder what the trade value would be. If you’re not getting a haul for Chris Bubich, I don’t think you need to move him. If you can get a haul for one of your arms, you do need to look into it, especially if you don’t like the free agent pool of outfielders in the offseason. So, I would absolutely look into it and I’m sure the Royals will entertain some offers coming up at the winter meetings. Bryce’s question. Bubich has had success as a lefty in the pen uh last year and I know we viewed him as a starter, but given our wealth of starting pitching, someone will get converted to a pen arm. Why not Bubich? And if not, who? I would say that Kolicker Bert has a better chance of that cuz what we saw from Chris Bubich as a starter was one of the more valuable starters in all of baseball. He was an all-star. He was this team’s best pitcher for the first couple of months. That’s the upside you have there. And if this injury was due to not having a full season in 24 and you expect them to be fully healthy in 26 and built up, I would want to see him back in the rotation and getting starts there. You want to put guys in the bullpen that you kind of feel have maxed out their potential in the rotation. And I’m not sure Chris Bubich is there just yet. So if he’s on the team next year, then I would want him to still be getting starts. But I don’t hate the idea cuz he was a very good reliever for this team. But I also believe the Royals can turn any one of those guys into a pretty good reliever for the back end of the bullpen. This one’s from RT. Don’t trust Bubich’s health. Any chance he goes to pin? We just answered that question. Not sure if I’d rather have 110 innings of a starting pitcher and if he goes down in August or 55 innings out of the pin all year. I don’t think we will trade much uh for I don’t think another team, excuse me, will trade much for him. And with his injury history, do you? I think we would jump even at an average left fielder for him. I don’t know if you want to jump at an average left fielder for Bubich. I just believe the stuff is too good. Knowing what the Royals like to do, it’s going to take a hole. And if they don’t get a hole, then he’s going to be on the team next year. This one is from Casey United. Believe we just have two more left. What happened to Frank Mosicado? Just did not pitch that well once he got promoted. Uh, and I’m just I’m kind of out on Frank Mosicado as a prospect. Doesn’t throw hard enough. the command hasn’t been as sharp and I’m just higher on other guys in the organization. I’m higher on multiple guys that are in lowe Columbia whereas Moscado’s a little bit ahead of him just doesn’t have the numbers just yet. So, not to say he can never get to Kansas City. I just have turned my attention to other guys uh in the farm system. And lastly from Matt, the people that have already labeled Jack as a bust are out of line, right? I think it’s way too early to make that decision. I still have high hopes for him. Yeah, I’ve got high hopes for him as well. I’m not going to chalk up this season as he’s never going to be good. It was not a good rookie season for him. But to get a full off season, full spring training, knowing you’re going to be on the roster, I feel it can really help him. And, you know, he had to learn a new position this year. I feel that knowing he’s going to be a right fielder and a DH next year can help him really focus offensively. And I do expect him to be much better next year. He’s learned how they try to attack him. I’ve seen him be more patient since getting recalled on September 1st. And the patience is the big key of it because if he can wait on his pitch, he’s got the plate coverage, maybe better plate coverage than anybody on the team of being able to hit the ball hard, hit it to all fields and hit the ball out of the park. So yeah, I think people label him a bust. It’s just being overreactionary. And I feel that next year he’s going to be much better. We can call it much better than what he’s been able to do in 2025. Well, that’ll do it for another edition of Mailbag Friday on Locked on Royals here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. I have been your host, Jack Johnson. Uh, the last thing I want to tell you about is MLB Game Night. And for your second listen after this one, you can check out the Locked On MLB Game Night every game, every night until a World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale and find MLB Game Night on Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. We’ll be off this weekend, but back on Monday recapping the Royals and Blue Jays series and looking ahead to the Angels in Anaheim. But until then, you take it easy. Kansas City.

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Host Jack Johnson goes over it all next on “Locked On Royals”!

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#Royals #KansasCityRoyals #MLB

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FanDuel
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