Royals’ Mike Minor switches plan mid-stream in scoreless Cactus League outing
Kansas City Royals veteran left-hander Mike Minor went into his first spring training outing with grand plans of focusing on his curveball. Except, even in a scoreless outing, things didn’t unfold that way.
Minor, one of the Royals’ key free-agent acquisitions this offseason, pitched two scoreless innings and struck out three in the Royals’ 8-6 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday at Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona.
“I didn’t get ahead enough,” Minor said. “I wanted to throw the curveball a little bit more, but I felt like today I was a little behind on a lot of the hitters. I felt like I was making good pitches, but maybe they were an inch off with the fastballs early on. I didn’t want to walk anybody.”
Minor said he’s heard coaches and club officials in Texas, Oakland and now Kansas City encourage him to use that curveball more. He thinks it can be effective in that it will give hitters a fourth pitch to consider with different velocity and movement than his fastball, slider and changeup.
“I wish I would have thrown a couple more breaking balls in there, first pitch for strikes and then bury them late — something I’m trying to work on,” Minor said. “I feel like I didn’t throw enough of them today, but I’ve got plenty of time to work on that.”
Minor allowed just one batter to reach base when he hit Giants star catcher Buster Posey with a pitch to start the second inning. Minor struck out the next three batters as he mowed down Evan Longoria, Brandon Crawford and Darin Ruf.
“Mike was good, really good,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “It was good seeing the ball jump out of his hand. I think he felt good just getting back out there on the mound.”
Top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. and infielder/outfielder Erick Mejia both homered for the Royals. Mejia went 2 for 2 with a homer, a double and three RBIs.
Jorge Soler, Andrew Benintendi, Edward Olivares and Hanser Alberto each doubled.
Bobby’s World
The No. 16 overall prospect in professional ranks according to Baseball America, Witt started at second base and went 2 for 3 with a homer and two runs scored.
He showed off his speed earlier in the week when he scored on a four-base fielding error, and he came sprinting out of the box on his first Cactus League homer.
He smashed a pitch from Giants submarine-style right-hander Taylor Rogers for a two-run home run in the third inning. He also popped out against former Royals pitcher Johnny Cueto and singled in the sixth inning.
“I knew I hit it pretty good, but I’m not used to, I guess, being stronger now and letting the ball fly,” Witt said. “It did (surprise me) at first just because the wind was kind of blowing in from out there. Right-center is kind of deeper out here too. I’m just always trying to hustle out of the box. You never know, it might have hit the top of the wall. Then I can try to get another inside-the-parker, a true one.”
After being part of summer camp/spring training 2.0, this year marks his first time as a non-roster invitation to big-league camp in Arizona.
“The biggest thing for me is to try to go out there and try to have fun through it all really,” Witt said. “But also try to learn as much as possible being around the big league guys as well as the summer camp last year. … This is my ultimate goal, to be a big-leaguer, and they’re already there. I just try to watch them, ask them questions. I’ve been pretty much doing that throughout the whole camp.”
Rough day for Bubic
Left-handed starter Kris Bubic, who made his MLB debut last season, gave up five runs on five hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. He recorded one strikeout.
Four runs came in his first inning on the mound. The Royals took advantage of the new spring training rules that allowed them to remove Bubic from the game as his pitch count inflated.
Left-hander Gabe Speier came in and registered the final out of the inning, and Bubic came back out for the next inning.
Bubic faced seven batters in the first inning before giving way to Speier following a Longoria three-run double.
“I told him when I went out to the mound, ‘Go get back in there. Get yourself ready to come back out and have a better second inning,’” Matheny said.
Pitching probables
Royals right-handers Jakob Junis and Carlos Hernandez are scheduled to pitch in Sunday’s game against the San Diego Padres.
Right-hander Brady Singer, who made his MLB debut last season, and top pitching prospect Daniel Lynch are each slated to pitch on Monday against the Oakland Athletics.
