Kansas City Royals pitcher Jonathan Heasley has uncharacteristic outing against Padres
If that was his closing argument, Kansas City Royals right-hander Jonathan Heasley hopes he already made a strong enough case to sway the jury deciding his future.
Heasley made no bones about coming into camp aiming to win a job on the major-league roster. He got his first cup of coffee in the majors late last season. He’d shown enough over the course of the minor-league season and with his brief exposure to the majors to warrant consideration for the major-league staff.
But giving up three runs in 1 1/3 innings wasn’t the last impression Heasley wanted to leave. He started for the second time and made his fourth appearance of spring training, and he allowed three earned runs in the Royals’ 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres in a Cactus League game Friday night at the Peoria Sports Complex.
Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez (2 for 3) blasted his second home run of the spring, a mammoth drive that hit the batter’s eye beyond the center field wall. The Royals’ other All-Star, leadoff man Whit Merrifield, had a hit, walked twice and scored a run.
The Padres featured a lineup fairly close to what their likely opening day lineup might look like, including former Royals star Eric Hosmer and former Royals prospect Wil Myers.
“It was a good test,” Heasley said. “I felt good. I felt like my stuff was good. I felt like I was just trying to be a little too fine at times, and I think that’s where I ran into trouble. Especially with the off-speed and the fastball, trying to be perfect instead of just trusting my stuff and knowing that it’s good enough to get these guys out.”
He gave up a solo home run to the first batter he faced, Trent Grisham on a fastball Heasley purposely located up and in.
The other two runs came in the second inning, which included two walks, an RBI double and an RBI single with the bases loaded.
“He’s had better outings this spring,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “I thought his stuff was pretty good. He limited the damage. We’ve seen him very aggressive in the strike zone. (He gave up) a couple of free bases. Overall, he’s got good stuff. He just didn’t have the fine feel for the strike zone today.”
Heasley, Double-A Northwest Arkansas’ Pitcher of the Year in 2021, came into the night having allowed seven earned runs on seven hits and four walks in 6 2/3 innings.
Last season, he went 7-3 with a 3.33 ERA in 22 games (21 starts) at Double-A. He ranked third among all Double-A pitchers in ERA, fourth in WHIP (1.22), sixth in opponents’ average (.244) and tied for sixth in strikeouts (120).
Heasley admitted he fell into the trap at the start of spring training of trying to do too much in an effort to impress.
“I just had to come to a one-on-one with myself like, ‘Hey, listen. You got called up for a reason last year. They obviously know what you can do. I feel like I belong. You’ve just got to go out and execute pitches. That’s the name of the game,’” Heasley said. “I feel like I left it all on the table. I feel like it was a good spring. I came in ready to go. We’ll see what happens.”
Roster trimming in final stages
The Royals went into Friday with 48 players remaining in big-league camp, including 16 non-roster invitees. The positional breakdown featured 23 pitchers, 12 infielders, eight outfielders and five catchers.
Triple-A players broke camp on Friday in advance of the Omaha Storm Chasers beginning their season on Tuesday in Indianapolis. Several players who are still in big-league camp figure to join the Triple-A club after the major-league roster has been set.
The Royals will have a lot of decisions to make as far as filling out their pitching staff, as well as their bench. Expected starting third baseman Bobby Witt Jr. still isn’t on the 40-man roster, so a roster move will be required to add him prior to the start of the season.
Royals farm system ranked No. 8
MLBPipeline.com released its complete farm-system rankings on Thursday, and the Royals ranked No. 8 of the 30 organizations.
Royals prospect Witt Jr. earned the No. 1 overall individual ranking from MLB Pipeline earlier this spring. He’s the lone member of the Royals system ranked among the top 50. The next-highest ranked Royals prospect is catcher MJ Melendez at No. 51.
Rounding out the top prospects for the Royals in the top 100 were first baseman Nick Pratto (No. 62) and left-handed pitcher Asa Lacy (No. 72).
The seven organizations ranked ahead of the Royals were the Baltimore Orioles (No. 1), Seattle Mariners (No. 2), Tampa Bay Rays (No. 3), Arizona Diamondbacks (No. 4), Los Angeles Dodgers (No. 5), Miami Marlins (No. 6) and Pittsburgh Pirates (No. 7).
Baseball America ranked the Royals’ system No. 5 going into the 2022 season on its annual list.
Umpires take the microphone
Major League Baseball announced on Friday that starting this season major-league umpires will make in-park announcements during the Replay Review process, and that training has already been held in Arizona and Florida this spring.
“We usually have a pretty good idea inside the dugout, so it’s really nothing aimed towards us,” Royals manager Matheny said. “This is all about including the fans and keeping them involved more in the conversation and keeping them better informed. I think everything we do is always going to be evaluated. What’s best for the game right now? Is there something that can make the fan experience better? And this is some feedback that the commissioner believes will be something the fans appreciate.”
The NFL has had referees announcing penalties from the field via microphones since the 1970s.
The NHL started having referees announce penalty calls from the playing surface by microphones in 2005.
The NBA has long relayed foul calls to the scorer’s table and they’re announced over the public address system to fans in the arena. During the pandemic, the NBA had referees explain replay calls over a microphone at the scorer’s table directly into a camera for the broadcast audience.
This story was originally published April 2, 2022 at 12:54 AM.
