Kansas City Royals’ Carlos Hernández ‘working’ to find his stride as spring training ends
Kansas City Royals right-hander Carlos Hernández goes into the start of the regular season still trying to fine-tune things on the mound after showing tantalizing potential last season. He performed so well while pitching in multiple roles in the majors that he earned a spot in the rotation to start this year.
Hernández is slated to start the fourth game of the regular season, while the Royals were still sorting through their fifth-starter competition with left-hander Daniel Lynch and right-hander and former top draft pick Brady Singer in the running as of Tuesday. (Singer pitched in an intrasquad game on Tuesday in Surprise, Arizona.)
However, Hernández didn’t finish on the strongest of notes in the Royals’ 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in the Cactus League finale in front of an announced crowd of 2,399 at American Family Fields of Phoenix on Tuesday.
Hernández allowed four earned runs on five hits, including a home run, and two walks in 2 2/3 innings.
“I think he’s been throwing the ball good,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “He wasn’t good today, but he’s been throwing the ball well. His stuff has looked right. Today, he wasn’t sharp. You throw that one away and get ready for when he gets his start.”
Hernández finished the spring having allowed five home runs in three outings (7 1/3 innings).
The pitchers, though, weren’t game-planning for specific hitters, and the Royals coaching staff impressed upon all of their pitchers the importance of throwing first-pitch strikes throughout camp.
That led to several pitchers falling victim to the long ball by opportunistic hitters. The emphasis being on developing a mentality over accumulating spring-training statistics.
Tuesday’s start marked the first time Hernández walked a batter, which was probably his bigger source of frustration.
He expressed a little bit of disappointment with how his final spring-training outing went, but remained optimistic and said he continues “working.”
“It’s the location of my fastball, my curveball, my slider,” Hernández said of his primary concern. “It’s the location.”
Last season, he displayed command of four different types of pitches while appearing in 24 games (11 starts). He posted a 6-2 record with 3.68 ERA and also registered his first major-league save.
From June 9 through the end of the regular season, opponent’s batted just .212 against him.
Snider, Kowar, Speier make the team
Matheny said prior to Tuesday’s Cactus League finale that he’d informed pitchers Jackson Kowar, Collin Snider and Gabe Speier that they’d made the major-league roster and would break camp with the team and head to KC for opening day.
Speier, a left-handed reliever, made his major-league debut in 2019, and Kowar made his debut last season.
Snider, whom the Royals added to their 40-man roster this winter, has not appeared in the majors. He spent last season pitching exclusively in relief for Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha. Baseball America ranked him the 39th-best prospect in the Royals farm system.
Kowar was part of the 2018 draft class that made history last season by having five players from the same class start games in the majors in the same year for the franchise that drafted them. He’s currently rated the organization’s second-best pitching prospect behind 2020 first-round draft pick Asa Lacy.
Last season, Kowar dominated in Triple-A but struggled with the transition to the majors as a starter. He’ll begin the season in the Royals bullpen.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Royals optioned reliever Domingo Tapia to Triple-A.
