Print edition: 
SURPRISE, Ariz. —Hitting coach Kevin Seitzer wants to rein in the false promise of Arizona. The best way to do that, he believes, is with a net.
So this spring, when the Royals take batting practice on their two primary practice fields, they will do so with just such a net hanging down several feet from the front of the backstop.
The mesh crowds the batter and serves to knock down balls that arch sharply upward from a swing. And that's the point.
Seitzer wants line drives not desert-aided fly balls.
"I want them to stay on the top half of the ball to get that backspin," he said. "We just crushed the ball last spring, but all of those Arizona homers turn into fly balls that don't reach the warning track."
A quick look at the stats confirm the Royals clubbed their way through the Cactus League a year ago by amassing 56 homers in 36 games — or 1.56 a game.
Then came the regular season... and production plummeted to an average of .89 every game.
Seitzer pondered the question last winter, settled on a hanging net as a possible solution and ran the idea past general manager Dayton Moore, manager Trey Hillman and other club officials.
Mike Arbuckle, who serves as Moore's senior adviser for scouting and player development, recalled a similar approach used for as a minor-league teaching tool during his time with the Phillies.
"We mandated its use in the minor leagues," Arbuckle said. "Guys keep hitting the ball into that screen, and it motivates them to make adjustments (to their swing). That's what you want."
But the Phillies didn't use it in major-league camp as Seitzer wanted to do. Moore eventually endorsed the idea in part because his roster hardly brimmed with power hitters. The Royals need to concentrate on hitting line drives.
Maybe this would help.
Initial reaction among players was mixed. The net is a definite distraction until one becomes accustomed to it. There was no shortage of annoyed looks as it flagged balls that might otherwise rocket into the thin desert air.
"I try not to think about it because it can bother me," first baseman Billy Butler said. "I see it, and it did bother me for the first day or so, but then I adjusted to it. It's fine.
"It helps me out. It keeps me down. I'm just trying to hit line drives right at the second baseman in BP."
And that, specifically, is what club officials want to see. More line drives and, of course, more line drives once the season starts.
"There are already fewer balls going out of the ballpark down here with loft," Hillman said. "The ones that are going out are ones that are more likely to go out of the ballpark when we get out of Arizona."
Seitzer originally envisioned a simple net flipped over the backstop, but the grounds crew devised an adjustable device that can be raised or lowered as desired. He now wants a similar setup at Kauffman Stadium for use in the regular season.
"Why not?" outfielder David DeJesus asked. "I think it's helping. It makes you focus on keeping the ball down."
The real question is this: Will the screen help boost production on a club that jettisoned three of its top five home-run hitters in the offseason from an attack that ranked next-to-last among American League teams in runs?
"It's worth trying," third baseman Alex Gordon said before a broken thumb put him on the shelf. "You don't want to get tricked by these cheap Arizona homers."
Not again.
