Richard Lovelady hoping change-up paves his way to the majors with Royals
No pitcher survives without confidence. It takes a different type of confidence to not bat an eye and admit you weren’t ready despite having enjoyed great success. Royals prospect Richard Lovelady has put up impressive statistics in the minors, and he’s knocking on the big-league door.
He’s also not afraid to admit he shouldn’t have made it to the majors in 2018.
“At that point, obviously I had the numbers to show, but I don’t think I was ready myself,” Lovelady said of not being called up in September. “I only had two pitches, and that’s easy enough to sniff out in the big leagues. To me, I didn’t think I was ready yet.”
Hard-throwing lefties who hold opposing hitters batting averages below .200 and record strikeout-walk ratios of 3.8-to-1 don’t grow on trees. That’s why the Lovelady, a non-roster invitee, has a shot at winning a job in the Royals bullpen this spring.
He’s one of four Royals pitchers scheduled to appear in relief during Sunday’s Cactus League game against the Oakland Athletics. Rule 5 selection Sam McWilliams will start that game.
A 6-foot tall, 175-pound left-hander from Georgia, Lovelady has shown flashes of dominance out of the bullpen in each of his three previous minor-league seasons since the Royals drafted him out of Kennesaw State in the 10th round in 2016.
“He’s not a situational lefty,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “His numbers have been very, very good and he’s been very successful at every level that he’s been at. He’s got really, really good stuff. He’s got a lot of deception in his delivery. He’s a dogged competitor. There’s a lot to like with his package.”
Lovelady made the leap from Rookie ball to Triple-A by the start of his third professional season. Last year in a notoriously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, Lovelady converted nine of 12 save opportunities, struck out 71 and walked 21 in 73 innings (46 games). Opponents batted just .204 against him, and he posted a 1.01 WHIP.
This spring, he came into camp with intentions of making the big-league club out of camp. He’s been working on a new weapon, a change-up, which he hopes to make it hard for the Royals do keep in the minors.
He learned his change-up grip — a circle change with a four-seam fastball grip on top — from Kevin Lenik, a teammate of his at Triple-A Omaha last year.
“The hardest thing with me was not only to have the grip, but to repeat the delivery,” Lovelady said. “My arm is like a three-quarters slot so it’s kind of hard to stay on top of it every time. I think now I’ve got to a point where I can figure out to get on front and stay on top of it.”
Lovelady has been trying to develop a feel for the pitch in bullpen sessions and live batting practice. Now, he’ll take the next step and test it in game situations.
“In the end, it’s really hard because the kid has two elite pitches in his fastball and slider,” Royals bullpen coach Vance Wilson said. “I think it will get there. It’s (about) being able to make sure we don’t use it so much that we don’t take away from the strengths. That’s kind of where we are, like let’s throw a bunch of them, let’s pull back and you’ll get a feel.”
Wilson described Lovelady’s change-up as having “come a long way” just in the two weeks since pitchers and catchers reported to Arizona.
He agreed with Lovelady’s assessment that the change-up could have huge ramifications as far as how Lovelady gets used whenever he does make it to the majors.
Wilson has no question that Lovelady has the arm to be a back-end reliever, but pitching late in the game would almost assure he’d face a heavy dose of right-handed pinch hitters. The hope is the change-up will neutralize those match-ups.
“It’ll be really good against righties,” Wilson said. “How you get a kid in a game, where we are as an organization — trying to win now? Can he just get lefties out or can he get righties out? We know because of the history that if a guy with that kind of arm can develop that (pitch), all of a sudden we don’t use him against one or two hitters. We might be able to get six outs out of him or five outs out of him.”
The bullpen figures to serve as the landing spot for Rule 5 pickups in Chris Ellis and McWilliams. The Royals also brought back Wily Peralta, Kevin McCarthy and Brian Flynn. The initial thought coming into camp was that one or more of the odd men out of the competition for the starting rotation might move to the bullpen.
However, the Royals signed veteran relievers Brad Boxberger, Jake Diekman and Drew Storen since Feb. 7. Their additions could make it tougher for Lovelady to break through. Just don’t expect Lovelady to bow out of way.
“I don’t worry about that,” Lovelady said of the additions. “They have to compete for a job just like I do. So you can sign a hundred guys. Still got to come out here and compete, doesn’t matter.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2019 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Richard Lovelady hoping change-up paves his way to the majors with Royals."
