Royals’ Jorge Soler ready to take on the challenge of a 60-game season
In all likelihood Royals designated hitter/outfielder Jorge Soler won’t approach 50 home runs this season with a 60-game schedule, but he’ll still be as dangerous to opposing pitchers as just about any hitter in the American League.
He provided a reminder of how dangerous he can be once he steps into the batter’s box with a two-run home run that started a four-run inning in Saturday night’s intrasquad scrimmage at Kauffman Stadium.
The team of veteran players that featured Soler, Alex Gordon, Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier among others, won 7-3 over a team of mostly younger players.
Soler, who played in all 162 games last season, set a franchise single-season record and led the American League with 48 home runs.
“It’s going to be a mentally challenging season,” Soler said with assistant strength and conditioning coach/Latin American coordinator Luis Perez acting as coordinator. “Sixty games is obviously much shorter than the 162, but staying patient and picking up the challenges as they come is going to be the plan.”
Soler will also enjoy the added benefit of facing pitching staffs he’s familiar with and had success against last season. He batted .319 with six homers and 20 RBIs against the Chicago White Sox in 2019, .408 with 10 homers and 26 RBIs against the Detroit Tigers and .292 with six homers and 13 RBIs against the Twins. He hit five homers against the Cleveland Indians, but batted just .176.
Of his four multi-homer games last season, three came against the Tigers, White Sox and Twins. However, Soler tried to downplay that familiarity as an advantage.
“It’s pretty even since they’ve seen me a lot too,” Soler said before a small smile crept across his face.
Soler blasted the first of back-to-back-to-back home runs off right-hander Glenn Sparkman in the bottom of the fourth inning. The last time the Royals hit three consecutive homers in a regular season game came against the Baltimore Orioles in 2018. Soler was part of that trio.
Soler’s laser to left field off Sparkman got out and into the bullpen quickly for a two-run shot with Hunter Dozier aboard. Alex Gordon and Maikel Franco followed with mammoth solo homers to center field as the veteran squad took a 4-2 lead.
Royals opening-day starter Danny Duffy allowed two runs in the first inning. After a single by Brett Phillips and a double by top-rated prospect Bobby Witt Jr. left runners on second and third, Seuly Matias’ single up the middle scored two.
Witt went 3 for 3 with two doubles for the night. Matias came out of the contest in the middle of an at-bat after he sustained a low-grade oblique injury while taking a swing against Duffy in the third inning.
Singer’s arsenal
Pitching prospect Brady Singer earned the organization’s Double-A Pitcher of the Year award last season. The right-hander pitched in the All-Star Futures Game. He has kept himself in the running for a potential fifth starter spot in the rotation this season.
For the most part, he’s done that all with a fastball and slider. His changeup remains a developing pitch, but he’s shown flashes of progress with it both in Arizona and during spring training 2.0 in Kansas City.
“I think it’s an important pitch,” Matheny said before he went on to add, “I also don’t believe enough credit has been given.”
Matheny went on to state his case that a pitch that can be used in different ways is more than just one pitch. For example, Singer’s slider. “It’s two pitches when you start talking about a left-hander that has to worry about that backdoor slider as opposed to the one that’s the wipe-out at the back foot,” Matheny said.
Matheny walked a line between wanting to downplay the third pitch as a “must have” for Singer to be a contender for the starting rotation, while also wanting to suggest it is an incredibly useful pitch Singer will continue to develop.
“Obviously, making it through that third time of the order you’ve got to start talking about guys with deeper repertoire, not necessarily a two-trick pony,” Matheny said. “That changeup is a valuable piece. It should be. I’m a huge changeup fan. I think it’s an equalizer from both sides of the plate. It is a good pitch for him. He got some good swings and misses from it (Friday).”
Matheny likened it to Jackson Kowar’s curveball and the fact that Kowar’s changeup is such a devastating complimentary pitch off of his fastball.
“Sometimes guys can start playing around so much they’ve got all these different weapons and they’re a master of none,” Matheny said.
Matheny said Singer’s ability to locate his fastball with movement to all four quadrants of the strike zone as well as the ability to throw his slider in different locations and manipulate the break on the slider shouldn’t get overlooked.
“He’s smart. He’s going to be evolving,” Matheny said. “He has evolved to where he has had more confidence (in that pitch), but he can’t get away from his strengths. There’s a number of pitchers out there that have two pitches they use multiple ways for the majority of their pitch count and have had a lot of success.”
Catching debut
Super-utility player Erick Mejia stepped behind the plate and caught the first inning Sparkman pitched on Saturday night. Matheny had said earlier in the week that he suggested Mejia have a thumb guard made up so he could catch a bullpen session.
Mejia caught a live batting practice session in the bullpen from Sparkman, and then they entered the game together Sparkman.
This story was originally published July 18, 2020 at 10:19 PM with the headline "Royals’ Jorge Soler ready to take on the challenge of a 60-game season."
