Spring Training games start today! Like, real baseball games (that don\u2019t count in the standings)!<\/p>\n
In yesterday\u2019s Rumblings, Max posted that Stephen Kolek would start today\u2019s game against the Rangers. Jaylon Thompson wrote an entire story about it<\/a> for The Star:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited for it,\u201d Kolek said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great honor to be the first one out for us and (I am) just ready for the opportunity to kind of continue what I was doing last year at the end of the season. I\u2019m excited to get out there and get the team rolling on a good note.\u201d<\/p>\n He also collected Mike Moustakas\u2019s thoughts about the late Terrance Gore<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sad,\u201d Moustakas said Thursday at the Royals\u2019 spring training camp in Surprise. \u201cYou know, losing a member of our family and the Royals family, it\u2019s really sad\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs great as a baseball player as he was \u2014 you guys saw what he was able to do on the field with all the speed \u2014 he was such a better person,\u201d Moustakas said. \u201cJust a great human, a great friend, father and husband.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, you know, we miss him a lot. We love him and his family. This organization is so great, we are going to do everything to help (his family) out.\u201d<\/p>\n He also wrote about Jac Caglianone<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I went to see him in January, he\u2019s completely open to what he learned from last year and how he wants to make corrections and move forward from last season,\u201d Royals hitting coach Alec Zumwalt said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s come in here and is in a great spot mentally and physically.\u201d<\/p>\n And, finally, he listed \u201cthree things<\/a>\u201d he was hearing:<\/p>\n This season, the Royals have a few NRIs who can earn a spot. MLB veterans Jose Cuas, Hector Neris and Eli Morgan have an opportunity. Each has experience pitching in the bullpen and could be welcome additions for organizational depth\u2026<\/p>\n The offensive side features Brandon Drury, Abraham Toro, Kevin Newman and Josh Rojas, among others. There is expected to be a competition for the final bench spots, and these players could impress with a strong spring.<\/p>\n One of his other \u201cthings\u201d was about Jonathan India, whom Anne Rogers wrote about<\/a>:<\/p>\n Calling it a \u201cfamily-involved offseason,\u201d India trained at a local youth park near his house so his wife, daughter and parents could come with him. He trained in the gym with his dad. On the field, he reunited with the coach he trained with in high school, Bruce Charlebois, who runs a baseball school in Florida and is someone India has known since he was 7 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like bringing it back to my roots,\u201d India said.<\/p>\n Looping back around to The Star (and because I don\u2019t want stadium stuff harshing my Spring Training buzz), Michael Collins suggests Truman and Troost<\/a> for the new Royals stadium. I don\u2019t hate the idea.<\/p>\n A stadium near Truman and Troost would be served by an 18th Street streetcar expansion, linking it to the Riverfront, City Market, the Central Business District, the Crossroads, the West Side, Union Station and Crown Center, Midtown, the Country Club Plaza and 18th and Vine., Kansas City\u2019s major cultural and entertainment districts would be connected by a single transit line, allowing people to move easily between neighborhoods and share in the city\u2019s energy \u2014 connectivity we have not seen since the 1950s.<\/p>\n At the Athletic ($), Jim Bowden gives us his \u201cMLB rookies to watch this spring: 20 players poised to make an impact in 2026<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n 5. Carter Jensen, C, Kansas City Royals<\/p>\n Scouting grades: Hit: 60 Pwr: 60 Run: 45 Arm: 60 Fld: 50<\/p>\n When last season began, Blake Mitchell was considered the Royals\u2019 top catching prospect. During spring training, however, manager Matt Quatraro kept raving about Jensen, 22, and his ascension as a prospect. That conversation continued throughout the year until Jensen was promoted to the major leagues on Sept. 1. He lived up to Quatraro\u2019s expectations and beyond as he slashed .300\/.391\/.550 with three homers and 13 RBIs in 60 MLB at-bats, good enough for a 161 OPS+.<\/p>\n Jensen profiles as a middle-of-the-order hitter and his power will benefit from the new, smaller dimensions at Kauffman Stadium this year. The most improved part of his game is his defense and it certainly helps that he has future Hall of Famer Salvador Perez as a mentor as he continues to develop as a big-league catcher.<\/p>\n J.J. Piccolo, Royals GM: \u201cCarter is a gifted hitter who makes great decisions at the plate. Great combination of on-base (skills) and power. He\u2019s also done an incredible job working on his defense and has become a well-rounded defensive player.\u201d<\/p>\n At ESPN, Buster Olney is doing position rankings. Yesterday was 1B<\/a>:<\/p>\n 10. Vinnie Pasquantino, Kansas City Royals<\/p>\n After a string of injuries, Pasquantino stayed on the field in 2025 and finished with 66 extra-base hits, 113 RBIs and a career-high 120 OPS+. He played 126 of his 160 games at first base last season but could have more time at DH in \u201826, as the Royals rely more on Carter Jensen behind home plate and Salvador Perez plays more games at first.<\/p>\n At Inside the Crown ($), David Lesky looks at players with a lot to gain<\/a> in Spring Training:<\/p>\n Daniel Lynch IV<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think Lynch is a lock for the Opening Day roster, and if he goes to AAA, he may never see the big leagues again. That\u2019s probably hyperbolic because lefties get chance after chance after chance after chance af\u2026fine, I\u2019ll stop. But this is the first camp that Lynch isn\u2019t doing any starting in. Once a starter gets moved to the bullpen because he\u2019s not good enough to start, there isn\u2019t really anywhere to go if he\u2019s not good enough to relieve either. Last season, he put up a great ERA. The underlying numbers, though, were anything but great. He struck out just 15.6 percent of hitters while walking 9.0 percent. He gave up a hit per inning.<\/p>\n He looked nothing like the pitcher he was down the stretch in 2024 when he was starting to look like a legitimate weapon. He has an edge over a lot of guys because the only other lefty in the bullpen who isn\u2019t guaranteed a spot is Bailey Falter. The non-roster lefties are Chazz Martinez, Frank Mozzicato, Hector Olivares and Hunter Patteson. Knowing the Royals would like multiple lefties in their bullpen, Lynch has a huge edge, but if he looks as hittable as he did last season, he might not lose his job for Opening Day, but he\u2019s going to be on thin ice. And, truly, if he\u2019s on thin ice now, his career will start looking like a lot of non-roster spring training invites.<\/p>\n Over at his new Into the Fountain digs (update your URL), Craig Brown asks \u201cDid the Royals do enough this winter to contend in the AL Central?<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n So from this list, I\u2019m left to wonder how the Royals missed out on Harrison Bader? When the offseason started, I didn\u2019t rate Bader as a good free agent bet. The industry consensus projected something like a two year contract at close to $30 million. I just kind of saw that as an overpay if that was the deal he was truly able to sign. He inked with the San Francisco Giants for two years at $20.5 million. That seems more than fair. Again, I did not see Yaz getting a bigger contract than Bader.<\/p>\n We can mark it down as a miss, but it\u2019s not a huge whiff. The larger point is, there just weren\u2019t many good options that fit the Royals needs on the free agent market. We see where the Royals spent the majority of their money: signing Lane Thomas. Maybe he will have that bounce-back season and impress.<\/p>\n Despite the less than appealing optics on how much they spent in the free agent market, their roster and the players available always made a Royals-sized splash something of a long shot. Doesn\u2019t make it any less disappointing, though.<\/p>\n At Royals Keep, Kevin O\u2019Brien picks out one pitch from three different pitchers<\/a> to watch in Spring Training:<\/p>\n Bergert threw six pitches and produced an overall TJ Stuff+ of 105, which is impressive. He also sported five pitches with grades of 52 or higher and a 51.7% zone rate overall. Unfortunately, his chase rate was 25.1%, his whiff rate was 23.9%, and his xwOBACON was .373. Those are all mediocre marks, to put it nicely, and Bergert should produce better results with that kind of TJ Stuff+ profile.<\/p>\n One thing Bergert seems to be working on this spring to help him overcome this issue is adding a new breaking ball.<\/p>\n Since we\u2019re about to start a new season, let\u2019s continue on with our nuts and bolts from last week. This week, I\u2019m going to look at the state of Royals media. Back in 2023, when I changed over my OT format from video games to\u2026 everything, one of my first topics was \u201cHow to Write a Rumblings<\/a>\u201d. As mentioned:<\/p>\n I have an incomplete, unpublished story called \u201cFuture Royals Rumblings Notes\u201d which is a giant scratch pad of story ideas and lists of content I\u2019ve already used (to avoid duplicates)\u2026 I organize my Rumblings into 5 main sections: \u201cOfficial Royals news\u201d, \u201cRoyals blogs\u201d, \u201cMLB news\u201d, \u201cOff Topic\u201d, and \u201cSong of the Day\u201d. I often combine a couple, especially in the slow offseason.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s check in on those sources and see how they\u2019ve changed.<\/p>\n BIG REQUEST: If you know of any Royals site that I\u2019m missing, please post them in the comments!<\/p>\n For the first section, here\u2019s what I consider \u201cofficial\u201d sources. Some writers have come and gone but the sites are all still there. Bluesky has also added another avenue for social media.<\/p>\n KCStar http:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/sports\/mlb\/kansas-city-royals<\/a> – The local newspaper of record needs no introduction. Its writers can be found on social media. Since this list was last created, Lynn Worthy went on to St. Louis and Jaylon Thompson has taken over at the primary Royals beat writer (https:\/\/twitter.com\/jaylonthompson<\/a>). Other writers at The Star who cover the Royals include Pete Grathoff (https:\/\/twitter.com\/pgrathoff<\/a>) and Blair Kerkhoff (https:\/\/twitter.com\/BlairKerkhoff<\/a>).<\/p>\n The Athletic https:\/\/theathletic.com\/royals\/<\/a> – They don\u2019t have a \u201cbeat writer\u201d for the Royals after Alec Lewis moved to cover the Minnesota Vikings a couple of year ago. I have a number of former Royals writers who also occasionally write for this or similar outlets. I think these names are all recognizable to longtime Royals fans: Joe Posnanski (https:\/\/x.com\/JPosnanski <\/a>; https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:3fip3tf6aqianjsuq7qqdwop<\/a>), Rany Jazayerli (https:\/\/x.com\/jazayerli<\/a> ; https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:yckd7jrcohsawasws2zdqilf<\/a>), and Rustin Dodd (https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/rustindodd<\/a>)<\/p>\n Royals MLBTR https:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/kansas-city-royals<\/a> – Not \u201cofficial\u201d, per se, but if any little transactions fall through the cracks, the Royals page for MLB Trade Rumors might have them<\/p>\n Google News https:\/\/news.google.com\/search?q=kansas%20city%20royals<\/a> – Finally, for anything I might have missed earlier, this is a bit of a catch all. It\u2019s a random aggregator and sometimes has stuff days or weeks old. It\u2019s also a good place to pick up oddball stories from non-standard outlets.<\/p>\n Next up is my first checks for the \u201cMLB\u201d section. I have links to major sports outlets as well as their Royals-specific pages to try and grab even more stories to share.<\/p>\n Fangraphs http:\/\/www.fangraphs.com\/<\/a> http:\/\/www.fangraphs.com\/blogs\/category\/royals\/<\/a><\/p>\n ESPN http:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/team\/_\/name\/kc\/kansas-city-royals<\/a> http:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/<\/a><\/p>\n CBS Sports https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/mlb\/<\/a> Yahoo Sports https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/<\/a> Associated Press https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a> (Their Royals-specific site is gone, but their MLB hub remains)<\/p>\n Blogs have had the most turnover.<\/p>\n Reddit (not really a blog, but you know what Reddit is) https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/KCRoyals\/<\/a><\/p>\n Inside the Crown (David Lesky) The first of two OGs. Many of David\u2019s stuff is behind a paywall, but he still has free posts. (https:\/\/insidethecrown.substack.com<\/a>) (Twit: https:\/\/twitter.com\/DBLesky<\/a>)<\/p>\n Royals Keep https:\/\/royalskeep.com\/<\/a> Kevin O\u2019Brien continues to write at the #3 Royals blog after he moved here from Royals Reporter (https:\/\/royalsreporter.com\/<\/a>); social media: (https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/royalskeep.com<\/a>, https:\/\/x.com\/royalskeep<\/a>)<\/p>\n Kings of Kauffman https:\/\/kingsofkauffman.com\/<\/a> Maybe I was too hasty. We\u2019re lumping the venerable Fansided KOK in with Royals Keep at #3. Keep has longer posts, KOK has more plentiful posts. Both are frequently cited in this space like today.<\/p>\n UL\u2019s Toothpick https:\/\/ulstoothpick.substack.com\/<\/a> Darin Watson (https:\/\/twitter.com\/Darin_Watson<\/a>) is doing something wholly unique. His site is fairly old. But what he\u2019s been doing the last few seasons is a \u201cThis Date in Royals History\u201d. Last year, he was looking back at 1985. So, on July 6th, his entry would be about what the Royals were doing on July 6th, 1985.<\/p>\n In the last couple of years, we\u2019ve lost a couple of major Royals minor league sites. Pour one out for these two.<\/p>\n Royals Farm Report: hxxps:\/\/royalsfarmreport.com\/ (Alex Duvall\u2019s farewell<\/a>)<\/p>\n Farm to Fountains: hxxps:\/\/farmtofountains.com\/ (Preston Farr\u2019s note about the site<\/a>)<\/p>\n EightOneSix https:\/\/royalsminors.substack.com\/p\/roster-preview-10-royals-sign-john<\/a> Looks like Preston has a new gig that I just learned about today (https:\/\/x.com\/royalsminors<\/a>)<\/p>\n Below are sites that post infrequently but you never know who will wake up for a new baseball season<\/p>\n Royals Data Dugout https:\/\/royalsdatadugout.substack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Diamond Chronicles https:\/\/diamondchronicles.substack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Powder Blue Nostalgia https:\/\/powderbluenostalgia.substack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Kansas City Royals on SI (formerly Inside the Royals, now mostly a junk news aggregator) https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/royals\/<\/a><\/p>\n Fansided KC Kingdom https:\/\/kckingdom.com\/kansas-city-royals\/<\/a><\/p>\n Swinging Bunts https:\/\/swingingbunts.substack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/mlb\/teams\/page\/KC\/kansas-city-royals<\/a><\/p>\n
https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/teams\/kan\/<\/a><\/p>\n