Royals’ 4 young arms flash potential
SURPRISE, Ariz. — The pitching quartet that highlighted the Kansas City Royals’ 2018 draft class, a group that has quickly become living symbols of hope for the franchise’s future, took the mound in major-league camp for the first time Sunday.
Yes, all of them pitched on the same day in the same location. It wasn’t the original plan, but Mother Nature handled the arrangements by raining out Saturday’s Cactus League games and pushing back appearances by Brady Singer and Daniel Lynch.
So a cold and overcast February morning in Arizona saw former first-round picks Lynch (34th pick) and Kris Bubic (40th) pitch on the Texas Rangers’ side of the shared complex in Surprise during a “B” game. In the afternoon, the Royals hosted the Cleveland Indians in Surprise Stadium.
The contest against the Indians featured a Bubba Starling home run as well as the spring training debuts of Jackson Kowar (33rd) and Singer (18th).
“I think it’s awesome,” Singer said of the four throwing on the same day. “We all wake and get up and get prepared because we all live together. We all had to be here at the same time, so it worked out. But no, it was definitely cool for all them to be on the same day.”
Singer showed off a 95 mph fastball and a hard-biting slider that sat around 85. He froze the first batter he faced, Domingo Santana, on a fastball for a called third strike. He got the next batter Franmil Reyes to swing and miss at a slider for his other strikeout. He finished his inning with a ground ball to second base.
Lynch, whose fastball reaches 97 mph, had mixed results in his 11/3 innings against the Rangers. He didn’t allow a hit, struck out one batter and also hit a batter with a pitch.
“Even though it’s on the back field, it’s still exciting,” Lynch said after his outing. “A guy like Willie Calhoun steps in the box, I know who that is as a big-leaguer. It’s the first time that I really got to do that.”
He also induced a pair of pop-ups that didn’t get out of the infield.
“That’s probably a good indication that there’s good riding life on the fastball, and that’s kind of what I try to get,” Lynch said. “I don’t know if that’s the case or not. That’s usually what I try to get out of my fastball, that good ride. Pop-ups are sometimes a result of that.”
Bubic allowed one run on one hit, a solo home run on a 3-2 pitch to the first batter he faced, in two innings. He struck out three, with batters swinging at third strikes on both his fastball and offspeed offerings.
He spent a lot of last season focused on adding a curveball as a third pitch to go with his fastball and changeup. Early in spring training, he’s still working to establish consistency with the curve.
Aside from the home run, he appeared to hit his spots, change speeds and move the ball around to different quadrants.
“I guess that was kind of my welcome to spring training moment of the year,” Bubic said of the home run. “Nothing like the first at-bat of the spring. But overall, I was very pleased with filling up the zone, getting ahead in counts — because that’s when I’m at my best — and I was able to locate all three pitches for the most part.”
Kowar’s inning had a rocky start. He got ahead of the first batter of the seventh inning Gavin Collins, 1-2, but then gave up a solo home run. His second pitch to the next batter Mitch Longo veered up and in and hit Longo. He reached his pitch count before recording a third out. He allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits, a walk and a hit batter in two-thirds of an inning.
“It was good to get the first one out of the way, I think,” Kowar said. “Obviously, I was a little amped up. I think that showed, a lot of elevated balls — fastballs and change-ups — those don’t get a whole lot of outs anywhere.”
None of the four pitchers had appeared in a big-league spring training game before. Each has shown enough potential in the minors to garner praise and recognition from inside and outside of the organization in their brief professional careers.
Singer, the national college pitcher of the year in 2018, has been ranked the top pitching prospect in the Royals organization by MLB. com and one of the top 100 prospects in baseball.
Baseball America ranked the 6-6 left-hander Lynch the top pitching prospect in the Royals’ farm system and the second-best prospect overall behind shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
Kowar, who pitched alongside Singer at Florida, has ridden a devastating change-up to success so far in his professional career. Baseball America also rates Kowar slightly ahead of Singer. Both he and Singer finished last season in the rotation for Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Bubic, a left-hander drafted out of Stanford, began last season at Low-A Lexington and moved up to Wilmington for his last 17 starts. He earned Wilmington’s Pitcher of the Year award.