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Andy McCullough answers your baseball questions in his debut Royals mailbag

His fastball won’t crack 90 mph. He stands 6-0, with a stocky frame that team officials say belies his athleticism. “The thing that people don’t give him credit for is what a great athlete he is,” said bench coach Don Wakamatsu, who managed Vargas in Seattle. “They look at the body and they go ‘Ehh . . .’ But he’s able to repeat his delivery, and that’s the sign of a solid starter.” To those who know him well, the critical components of Vargas are internal as well as external. At Long Beach State, Vargas’ final stop on a peripatetic amateur career, he impressed his coach, Troy Buckley, with his poise. Buckley hit upon a trio of keys: Shoulders, pace and face.
“If your shoulders aren’t slouched,” he explained, “if your pace isn’t slow, if you’re not showing what you’re thinking on your face, then you’ve got pretty good presence, and you’ve probably got pretty good makeup.”

This story was originally published April 25, 2014 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Andy McCullough answers your baseball questions in his debut Royals mailbag ."

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