Kansas City Royals’ Carlos Hernández not deterred by home runs in first spring start
Kansas City Royals right-hander Carlos Hernández came out of the starting gate firing fastballs near 100 mph in his first spring-training start of the year. But the Texas Rangers made it clear from the first pitch on Friday that they weren’t afraid to jump on pitches early.
Brad Miller crushed the first pitch of the game from Hernández over the right-field wall and onto the grass berm for a solo home run. That was the first of three home runs for the Rangers in the game, including two against Hernández.
The Royals fell 8-4 to the Rangers in front of an announced 4,120 at Surprise Stadium. The Royals (5-1-1) entered the day as the lone unbeaten team remaining in the Cactus League.
Hernández allowed three runs on four hits, including two home runs, in two innings. He struck out two and didn’t walk a batter.
Last season, Hernández registered a 6-2 record with a 3.68 ERA, an opponent’s batting average of .223 and a 1.28 WHIP to go with 74 strikeouts and 41 walks in 85 2/3 innings. From June 9 through the end of the regular season, his opponent’s batting average (.212) ranked fifth among AL pitchers.
Hernández said he was happy that he consistently threw strikes and competed with pitches in the zone in his first outing of spring training.
Throwing first-pitch strikes has been a theme among the Royals coaches and communicated daily to the pitching staff. The percentage of first-pitch strikes has regularly been posted on video screens in the clubhouse.
“Work on [my] body. Working in the zone. Competing. First-pitch strikes,” Hernández said of his goals for winter. “Attack the hitters, that mentality was the focus for the offseason.”
Three of the Rangers’ four hits were for extra-bases, including Miller’s home run, a two-run home run by Eli White and a second-inning leadoff double by Joe McCarthy.
When asked if the Rangers being aggressive and swinging early in the count made it hard to keep that approach, Hernández said, “I’m going to trust myself and keep competing and attacking the zone. Things like that are going to happen.”
After McCarthy’s double started the second, Hernández retired the next three batters, on back-to-back ground outs followed by a strikeout swinging.
Royals manager Mike Matheny, who described Hernández’s outing as “really good, placed more weight on that “attack” mentality of Hernández’s than the results.
“You’ve got 98 to 100 and a plus changeup and you can go to a curveball or a slider and throw both for strikes,” Matheny said. “I mean, fill it up and trust your stuff. You know, this is without game planning against them and knowing which guys are going to come up there ready to swing at the first-pitch fastball. That’s more information that we’ll have once we go into the season. Right now, it’s about pitch execution.
“And I was happy to see him not just go away from that game plan and then try to make perfect pitches. He did a great job and kept pounding it, letting them get their at-bats in, but getting his work in and staying in the zone.”
Right-hander Jackson Kowar retired the side in order in his first inning, but then gave up three runs on three hits and a walk in his second inning.
Garrett: Social media crossed a line
Recently-acquired left-handed reliever and former college basketball player Amir Garrett did an interview with former MLB Network host Chris Rose on his podcast “The Chris Rose Rotation.”
In part of the interview, Garrett explained that last season he dealt with threats via social media. He even got off of Twitter for a period of time.
“I felt like I handled it pretty well, but when it starts to come in waves at your family, death threats and stuff like that — that really bothered me,” Garrett told Rose. “I was getting those. My daughter, she wasn’t born yet. My wife was getting slander in her messages and stuff like that. And that’s why I deleted my Twitter, because it’s like I had to protect my mental state.
“I can handle any slander. Anything. ‘Amir, you sucked today.’ Whatever. ‘Why’d you give up a three-run home run?’ Whatever. I can handle that. That’s cool. But when it comes to death threats or you come after my wife or my unborn child, that’s a line that can’t be crossed. It can’t be.”
The Royals acquired Garrett from the Cincinnati Reds in the trade that sent Mike Minor to the Reds.
Singer and Bubic up next
The Royals listed pitchers Brady Singer, Kris Bubic, Arodys Vizcaino, Brad Peacock and Jace Vines as probables for Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Surprise Stadium. Singer will start.
Saturday’s game is scheduled for an 8:05 p.m. CT first pitch.
Singer pitched two innings in his only previous outing of the Cactus League season. He allowed one unearned run on a hit, two walks and a wild pitch.
