Kansas City Royals Nicky Lopez and Brady Singer excited to see lockout end
Three weeks after big-league players should have reported to spring training, the MLB lockout imposed by the owners ended and Kansas City Royals like Nicky Lopez and Brady Singer were itching to rejoin their teammates in Arizona.
Lopez, a versatile infielder who is entering his fourth season in the majors, and Singer, a right-handed starting pitcher getting ready for his third season, both made appearances on “Vern’s Hot Stove” show on sports radio KCSP (610 AM) with host Josh Vernier.
Both Lopez and Singer expressed excitement in regard to the end of the lockout and the start of spring training in the coming days.
“We still rode that same roller coaster as everyone,” Lopez said of the uncertainty surrounding the labor negotiations. “We wanted to play just as bad as everyone wanted us to play.”
Lopez, who is arbitration eligible for the first time in his career this season, also seemed to bristle a bit at the characterization of the labor negotiations as “Billionaires vs. Millionaires,” and called it “tough to hear.”
“I don’t want the fans to think we’re doing this out of spite or we’re doing this, not thinking about them or not thinking about the cities that we play in,” Lopez said. “It was just we had to do what we had to do for the longevity and the future of baseball, the guys coming up.
“I think baseball is in a better place now than it was in the last CBA, but we couldn’t be more excited to be in front of the fans again.”
Lopez, who celebrates his 27th birthday on Sunday, became the first Royals left-handed hitter to hit .300 or better since Eric Hosmer (.318) in 2017. Lopez also became the first Royals shortstop (at least 75% of games at that position) to hit .300 or higher.
After taking over as the everyday shortstop due to Adalberto Mondesi’s injury, Lopez led all major-league players in outs above average (25) and runs prevented (19).
He recorded the third-highest fielding percentage of any shortstop in the majors and set a franchise-record with 72 consecutive errorless games at shortstop from May 5 through August 13.
With the return of Mondesi and the pending arrival of top prospect Bobby Witt Jr., Lopez said he trained this offseason to play all around the infield, including second base, shortstop and third base. Lopez is willing to play wherever manager Mike Matheny asks him to play.
By Thursday night, Lopez had already reached out to members of the coaching staff and he hopes to see as much live pitching as he can this spring before the season starts.
He also made a point of mentioning the importance of keeping pitchers healthy with the abnormal spring training schedule due to the lockout and delayed start.
Singer, 25, ranked second on the pitching staff in starts (27) and strikeouts (131) last season — his first full-length season in the majors.
“We really kind of just imitated what we’d be doing in spring training,” said Singer, who spent the offseason training alongside other professional players in Tampa, Florida. “I got it up to two, close to three innings now. Like I said, just trying to do what you think we’d be doing.”
Singer made his major-league debut during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020 after the coronavirus interrupted spring training.
He said he had been throwing alongside Royals starters Brad Keller and Jackson Kowar in Tampa.
Singer said he thinks he’s about as far along as he would have been if he’d reported to spring training in the middle of February. He also added that the club communicated its expectations before the lockout started.
Once the lockout went into effect, players on the 40-man roster were not allowed to have contact with club officials, including the front office, coaches and the training staff.
“I was kind of just waiting for the word,” Singer said when asked if he tracked the latest developments in the labor talks via Twitter. “When they were down in Florida, I was definitely getting excited. I started getting antsy. Then it was just up and down so much that I said, ‘You know what, just screw it. Let’s just keep doing what you’ve been doing.’ …
“Today we obviously got the deal done and heard it’s a go, so now we’re in kind of full panic. Let’s move out and figure out a place to live and get out to AZ.”
