Only the realest Royals fans stuck last nights barn burner out until the final pitch.
The Royals defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-3, and it was quite the adventure getting to the finish line.
The Rockies have the worst record in all of baseball, so anything less than a sweep for the Royals would be met with fan outcry.
They delayed the pitchforks for at least another night.
While the offense is still trying to awake from winter hibernation, Drew Waters has been quietly handling his business. He was 3-4 including this 408 foot bomb over the right field wall:
In 33 at-bats Waters has a respectable .769 OPS and 117 wRC+. He has looked light years better than MJ Melendez (not a great start in AAA for him last night). Waters should feel secure in his spot on the roster with MJ gone for the foreseeable future.
Freddy Fermin was inserted in the game late but winds up being my player of the game. He came in the 9th inning to run for Salvy and wound up scoring the game-tying run for the Royals. Next on his highlight reel, he picked off Mickey Moniak at 3rd and for a grand finale he hit the walk-off hit for the boys.
Those guys were the bright spots for an otherwise lackluster offensive performance (stop me if you’ve heard that before). India, Massey, and Pasquantino all had 0-4 nights, and all of them are hitting under .200. Salvy was 1-4 but is still hitting under .200.
These guys are still out of sync, and it’s only getting later in the season. It’s not even May, so it’s still on the early side of the season. There’s 138 games left. That being said, the Royals are going nowhere if Vinnie Pasquantino is going to be this bad. Do I believe he is a better hitter than what he’s shown? Absolutely. Does it look like he’ll snap out of it any time soon? Eh eh.
Over his first three seasons, Pasquantino wRC+ has been at 116 on average. This year it’s 56. There’s been talk about Vinnie and his swing mechanics and how they’ve changed since last season.
I’m not sure if this small change was a result of his broken thumb at the end of 2024 or attempting to create more bat speed, but whatever it is it’s not working. His track record would lend me to believe he will break out of this slump, but he’s shown no signs of life. Matt Quatraro seems to be out of answers on how to jumpstart Vinnie as well. Sunday, they batted him in the 7th hole. He had 492 at-bats as the 3 hitter in 2024 and has only hit lower than 6th in the lineup 25 times since 2022.
But let’s get to Kristofer Bubic, who if not for Freddy Fermin, would’ve won the player of the game. He showed his ace potential yet again, in what is turning out to be a break out season for the 27 year old.
He went 7 innings for the first time since 2022, and kept the Rockies off balance all night.
His slider was particularly effective finding the zone 73.3% of the time including for this backwards K:
Bubic really wore down the Rockies lineup only allowing 4 hits. His fastball really played well off of his offspeed pitches. He was able to get three strikeouts on his 4-seamer. Bubic has really cranked up his fastball usage since coming back from Tommy John surgery last season. I would say it’s paying off for him. It was his third quality start and he lowered his ERA to 1.45.
His movement profile better illustrates how he’s able to fool hitters with the shape of his fastball vs the shape of his changeup and sweeper. His changeup has more drop than average which works in concert with his fastball that rises higher than most pitcher’s fastballs.
Bubic has more than picked up where Brady Singer left off. He’s been pitching closer to a No. 2 starter opposed to his No. 4 spot in the rotation. His play is even garnering early Cy Young consideration.
The Royals were good enough on Monday night, and they will have to sweep this Rockies team for the fan base to feel good about their outlook the rest of the season.
It would be wild for Royals fans to change their expectations about the team six weeks into the season but their record was trending in the wrong direction. They endured a six-game losing streak, but have since won two in a row.
Player of the Game Season Standings:
Cole Ragans– 2
Carlos Estevez– 1
Daniel Lynch IV– 1
Freddy Fermin– 1
Jonathan India– 1
Kris Bubic– 1
Kyle Isbel– 1
Maikel Garcia– 1
Bank On It! 
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