Adalberto Mondesi smacks a pair of hits in Royals’ first intrasquad scrimmage
Mike Matheny still hasn’t managed a regular-season game for the Kansas City Royals, but that doesn’t mean seeing shortstop Adalberto Mondesi roaming the left side of the infield at Kauffman Stadium didn’t qualify as a sight for sore eyes.
Mondesi, who spent the offseason rehabbing a shoulder injury, did not play in a single Cactus League game when the Royals were in Surprise, Ariz., for spring training.
The Royals held their first intrasquad scrimmage of spring training 2.0 Tuesday in an empty Kauffman Stadium. They played in close to game-like conditions. They had third base and first base coaches in their typical positions and giving signals. The defense shifted against certain batters.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore and CEO and chairman John Sherman watched the day’s activities unfold from a suite in the ballpark. The Royals will continue to play intrasquad games with a rotating cast of players Wednesday evening.
“It’s just really nice to see Mondi out on the field,” Matheny said. “Just the life in his body and then you see that sweet swing, it looks right. Just a big day. This guy was really stuck in the (Dominican Republic) in a spot where he was getting some work, but it was going to be hard for him to get a lot of (live at-bats). He just picked up that game timing really quick. It was just a really good day for Mondi.”
The Royals’ projected double-play combination of second baseman Nicky Lopez and Mondesi swung the bats well, each smacking a double into the right-field corner. Mondesi, coming off shoulder surgery last September and subsequent rehab, also singled up the middle off flame-throwing reliever Trevor Rosenthal.
Lopez’s double came against right-hander Braden Shipley, while Mondesi’s was against right-handed reliever Scott Barlow. Mondesi hit both balls from the left side of the plate.
Bobby Witt Jr., the Royals’ top 2019 draft pick, played both shortstop and third base during the scrimmage, sliding over to third and playing alongside Mondesi at one point in what could be a glimpse into the future.
“There are going to be times when Mondi and Bobby Witt are on the field at the same time, and Mondi is going to be at shortstop,” Matheny said. “We felt better about putting him on the left side of the infield, where he wasn’t necessarily having to deal with turns in the middle. We got him some work at third base so he’d have some comfort to him.
“The honesty of it is even as the shortstop when you’re in a complete shift, you’re basically playing second base anyhow. We’ll try to get him reps anyway that we can.”
Witt singled through the right side of the infield into right field against left-handed reliever Timmy Hill.
Projected starting outfielders Alex Gordon, Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier did not play in Tuesday’s intrasquad scrimmage; nor did first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, Ryan McBroom or third baseman Maikel Franco. Catcher Salvador Perez remains in self-isolation after a positive test result for COVID-19, and the club announced later that O’Hearn and pitcher Brad Keller have also tested positive for the coronavirus.
Jorge Soler, Brett Phillips and minor leaguers Nick Heath, Kyle Isbel, Khalil Lee and Seuly Matias played the bulk of the time in the outfield. M.J. Melendez, Nick Dini and Sebastian Rivero shared most of the catching duties with Melendez starting the scrimmage behind the plate. Former first-round draft pick Nick Pratto played a lot at first base.
Right-handed relievers Ian Kennedy, Greg Holland, Josh Staumont and Tyler Zuber also pitched as did Shipley, Barlow, Hill and Rosenthal.
Despite giving up the double to Mondesi, Barlow struck out three in an inning of work. Rosenthal gave up one hit, struck out one and got Soler to ground into an inning-ending double play. Staumont got Melendez to fly out to center field on a sharply-struck drive with two men on after giving up a single to Erick Mejia and a walk to Freddy Fermin.
A unique scrimmage
The scrimmage was broken down into “rotations” as opposed to innings. One rotation consisted of four players serving as the batting lineup while eight players, not including the pitcher, were in the field.
At the end of the first rotation, the group that had just batted shifted to defensive positions and four defensive players came off the field and formed the new batting lineup. Which also meant a group of four defenders remained in the field for a second rotation on defense.
The third rotation allowed the group of four players who spent the first two rotations on the field as defensive players to serve as the batting lineup while the initial batting group remained on the field for a second consecutive defensive rotation, and the group that batted second returned to the field.
How did the concept originate? Matheny said, “We weren’t sitting in a room. We were sitting in a Zoom.”
Matheny said more than once during the delay between spring training in Arizona and this spring training 2.0 that he and his coaching staff were on a Zoom conference call with third base coach Vance Wilson at a ballpark in front of a whiteboard diagramming ideas. The camera was pointed at Wilson, and various other coaches chimed in with different suggestions.
The fact that many Royals players are comfortable playing multiple positions was crucial to making the rotation system work.
Each group went through six rotations (four on defense, two at-bats) Tuesday.
“We’ve got these guys that we can bounce around to different spots,” Matheny said. “That’s a huge advantage for us.”
This story was originally published July 7, 2020 at 3:26 PM with the headline "Adalberto Mondesi smacks a pair of hits in Royals’ first intrasquad scrimmage."
