KC Royals rookie Drew Waters celebrates first homer, taking $100 from Zack Greinke
Kansas City Royals rookie outfielder Drew Waters surely wanted the win on Monday night, but years from now, what he’ll remember is the homer and the hundo.
Waters, who played in his 13th game since being called up to the major leagues, roped his first home run as a big-leaguer in the fifth inning of the Royals’ 6-5 loss to the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium.
Waters also hit a double in his first at-bat, and he finished the day with two of the team’s three hits against Guardians starting pitcher Triston McKenzie.
But the home run obviously meant more, and Waters revealed after the game that the home run came with a bit of a bonus. He won a $100 bet with veteran pitcher Zack Greinke.
Asked what went through his mind when he realized he’d gotten his first homer, Waters replied with a smile, “That I just got Zack Greinke’s 100 bucks.”
A 6-foot-2, 185-pound former 41st overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, Waters explained how the wager had been made between him and Greinke.
“He actually bet me, I think it was our first home series, that I wouldn’t hit a home run for the rest of the season,” Waters said. “I was like I hope he’s not putting the bad ju-ju on me. But as soon as I went deep, that was the one guy I was looking for in the dugout. He actually wasn’t in the dugout. As soon as he came back into the dugout I was sure to tell him he owed me a hundred.”
What prompted Greinke to make such a bet?
“Probably a lot of rollovers,” Waters said with a chuckle.
Waters said he hadn’t yet collected his winnings from Greinke, but Greinke congratulated him on the homer and said it was “awesome.”
Waters seemed less concerned with the dollar value than the fact that he had a win over Greinke, a former Cy Young Award winner with nearly two decades in the big leagues.
“He hasn’t (paid) yet, but he has mentioned it to me,” Waters said. “So I’m sure I’ll get a small piece of his fortune.”
Waters, a 23-year-old switch hitter, entered the day batting .206 since making his debut in the majors on Aug. 22. He’d had just one extra-base hit, a double, entering the day.
“It’s always to see a guy get his first home run,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “I think (it what was impressive) was the first at-bat, where (McKenzie) kept throwing him the breaking ball. Drew stayed alive, stayed alive … fighting, not trying to do too much. Then the slider gets more of the plate, and he hits the double.”
Waters said he’d recently come to the conclusion that he’d been a bit too tentative at the plate after having enjoyed a lot of early success at Triple-A Omaha after the Royals acquired him in a trade with the Braves on July 11.
In 31 games with Omaha, Waters slashed .295/.399/.541 with seven home runs and has really seemed to embrace working with the Royals hitting development staff.
“I actually went in and talked to (interim hitting coach Alec Zumwalt) today and I was like, ‘I gotta be willing to make mistakes, be willing to swing at a pitch out of the zone, be willing to make an error,” Waters said. “Right now I’m playing too careful.’ I think good things came from it.”
Waters’ first home run traveled an estimated 400 feet and came rocketing off his bat with an exit velocity of 105 mph.
Waters considers himself a bit of perfectionist, which he admitted can be a “double-edged sword.” When he and Zumwalt watched videos of his at-bats, they didn’t see mechanical flaws with his swing.
“I just think the Intent behind the swings was different,” Waters said.
Monday night seemed to be the rare case where stepping into the batter’s box thinking about hitting home runs worked in a hitter’s favor.
“I told him today, ‘In Omaha, all I was thinking about was hitting homers,’” Waters said of his conversation with Zumwalt. “I was like I need to do that. Whatever happens, happens. Good things ended up happening. I’ll try to keep it going tomorrow.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 12:56 AM.
