Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch makes his final pitch for a rotation spot
The Kansas City Royals’ abundance of pitching options was evident long before spring training started. Now with camp nearing an end, the competition has heated up and every outing is a chance for a pitcher to solidify his place on the roster, or perhaps in the starting rotation.
Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch, one of the pitchers not yet announced as part of the starting rotation, made his final start of Cactus League play on Sunday. Lynch allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings as the Royals lost 10-8 to the Seattle Mariners in front of an announced crowd of 7,075 at Surprise Stadium.
Lynch, who allowed one run in five innings against the Mariners last week in his previous outing, gave up seven hits including a pair of homers on Sunday.
“I actually was pretty happy with it,” Lynch said. “I commanded the ball pretty well. The misses I had were small misses. Although obviously the box score wasn’t as good, I felt like I still took away kind of the same thing from the last game. Four pitches were pretty well commanded the entire game and again the defense played awesome.
“So I’m pleased with it. There’s obviously some things that I would change, but I’m overall pleased.”
Lynch, who said he had better command of both his slider and changeup this time out, struck out two and walked one.
He gave up a run in the first inning on three singles, before getting an inning-ending double play. The other two runs came on solo homers, one by top Mariners prospect Julio Rodriguez, the other by cleanup hitter Luis Torrens.
“I feel like I’ve done things better every time,” Lynch said of his camp. “That’s really all I can control, just trying to improve every time I’ve gone out there. I felt like I’ve done that.”
The Royals will use a five-man starting rotation, at least to start the season, and Royals manager Mike Matheny announced on Sunday that the starters for the first four games of the regular season will be Zack Greinke in the season opener followed by Brad Keller, Kris Bubic and Carlos Hernández.
Lynch and Singer appear the leading candidates, along with Jonathan Heasley, for the fifth spot. The Royals optioned Angel Zerpa to the minors on Sunday.
Whichever pitchers end up on the outside of the rotation very likely will earn spots in the bullpen to start the season while rosters temporarily expand to 28 players through May 1.
“I try not to worry about that,” Lynch said of battling for a spot in the rotation. “I feel like I’ve done everything that I could. I feel like I’ve thrown the ball really well. I felt like I came in really prepared. I did everything I needed to do, and the rest is just not up to me.
“Obviously, I really want that. But, like I said, it’s just not up to me.”
Matheny agreed with Lynch’s assessment that he improved in some aspect of his performance with each outing this spring.
“I think he followed suit with what we were trying to do, control counts,” Matheny said. “He did that the entire camp, use your defense, trust it. I just think he’s getting better every time he gets out there.”
Royals probables for the final two spring training games include Keller and Jackson Kowar on Monday, and the trio of Sinder, Bubic and Carlos Hernández in Tuesday’s finale.
Outfield looks for Melendez, Pratto
Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said that prospects MJ Melendez and Nick Pratto will likely both get some playing time in the outfield at Triple-A Omaha this season.
Melendez, a catcher and the No. 42 overall prospect in professional baseball according to Baseball America, will catch four times per week with Freddy Fermin serving as the primary backup. Melendez played some third base late last season in the minors, and he worked at that position regularly in the mornings before spring training workouts.
Picollo said senior advisor and former outfield/first base coach Rusty Kuntz will spend time in Omaha working with Melendez on playing the outfield when the Storm Chasers are at home. Kuntz oversaw Alex Gordon’s transition from third base to left field, where Gordon eventually tied the franchise record for Gold Gloves (eight).
Pratto, Baseball America’s No. 43 overall prospect, won a Minor League Baseball Gold Glove award last year at first base. He will also get playing time in the outfield as well as at first base to make room for Vinnie Pasquantino to log time at first base. Pasquantino will also get at-bats as the designated hitter.
“We toyed around with putting Vinnie in Double-A just to start out the year, just for the defensive work, but Vinnie needs to be in Triple-A as a hitter,” Picollo said.
Hall of Famers
Prior to Sunday’s game, the City of Surprise Community and Recreation Advisory Board inducted six people into the Surprise Recreation Campus Hall of Fame. The group included current Royals players Salvador Perez, Andrew Benintendi and Michael A. Taylor.
Former longtime Royals VP of broadcasting and communications Mike Swanson and senior VP of business operations Kevin Uhlich were also inducted. A local citizen of Surprise also earned induction.
Swanson, who retired at the end of last season, is a native of the Kansas City area.
