Royals must put young catchers to work with COVID-19 putting depth to the test
For the time being it appears the Kansas City Royals’ crop of young minor-league catchers will carry the bulk of the load during spring training 2.0 as big-league backstops have quickly become an endangered species around Kauffman Stadium.
Saturday’s news that catcher Cam Gallagher went on the IL following a positive test for COVID-19 left the club with none of the three catchers currently on the 40-man active roster: the club awaits Salvador Perez’s return from a positive COVID-19 test and Meibrys Viloria went on the IL last weekend with an undisclosed injury.
Of the six catchers originally put on the 60-player spring training pool, Nick Dini, M.J. Melendez and Sebastian Rivero remain with the club.
Freddy Fermin and Allan de San Miguel were added last weekend, and the Royals signed Oscar Hernandez to a minor-league contract with a spring training invitation on Thursday. Hernandez played in 22 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2015 and 2016.
“It’s going to give opportunities to the guys we have, first of all,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said, trying to keep a positive outlook. “... We might have an opportunity here to get some guys through something that then we can just go. I know there’s no certainty that once they do get through it that it won’t happen again. Certainly, I think there’s some odds in our favor.
“If there’s an opportunity for us to make the most of seeing some of those other players and figure out ways to keep the guys who are asymptomatic somewhat sharp while they’re at home and in isolation.”
Matheny described the club’s overall approach as “hopeful” that they’ll be able to get some catchers back from the IL soon and be able to get them ramped up to play.
Holland efficient again
Relief pitcher Greg Holland worked a 1-2-3 inning against the trio of Adalberto Mondesi, Nicky Lopez and Ryan McBroom. Holland, who signed a minor-league contract this winter, got Mondesi to fly out, Lopez to ground out to first base and struck out McBroom.
Holland hasn’t had the same fastball velocity as he had in years past, but he’s used his slider effectively in both Arizona spring training and since the club has resumed workouts and intrasquad games in Kansas City.
“I thought this might have been his best (day), just how the fastball was coming out and watching hitters react to the slider,” Matheny said. “[He was] really even toying both sides of the plate with the breaking ball. He tried elevating a couple times and the velocity was even a little better. I thought this was a great day for Greg Holland.”
Matheny also praised the veteran presence of Holland and Ian Kennedy among a relatively inexperienced pitching staff as examples and mentors.
Squared up
The first two pitchers in Saturday’s scrimmage, right-handers Braden Shipley and Jesse Hahn were jumped on early by Royals hitters.
Following a Whit Merrifield leadoff walk, Alex Gordon hit a two-run home run to center field off of Shipley to start the afternoon. Merrifield also singled later in the inning — the lineup consisted of just four hitters.
Bubba Starling and Hunter Dozier welcomed Hahn to the scrimmage by jumping on him for a pair of hits apiece.
Starling lined a double to left field and Dozier, after getting hit in the hand for the second time this week, drilled a single to left. Later in the inning, Starling singled up the middle and Dozier roped a two-run double.
Change of plans
The Royals were originally scheduled to hold Saturday’s scrimmage in the evening under the lights at Kauffman Stadium, but they moved it up to early afternoon with rainstorms in the forecast for later in the day.
Matheny said they shifted gears and notified players around 10 a.m. that they’d moved to an earlier start time of 1:15 p.m. instead of 6:15 p.m.
They went back to the format where players rotated from being in the lineup to being in the field defensively instead of a pure team vs. team setup like they used on Friday night.
This story was originally published July 11, 2020 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Royals must put young catchers to work with COVID-19 putting depth to the test."
