On Wednesday, MLB.com Royals beat reporter Anne Rogers held an Ask Me Anything on Reddit with Royals fans at r/KCRoyals. This mailbag features questions and answers from there. The full AMA can be read here.
Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Can you speak to Salvy's role in the clubhouse and his impact? Just how important is he to this team and franchise? Could he be a future manager?
Man, I can't even begin to describe the impact Salvy has had on this team and this franchise. I think every single player that has walked through the doors of either the Spring Training clubhouse and/or the Royals¡¯ clubhouse in Kansas City has been influenced by him. Salvy leads by example -- when your catcher and captain is working as hard as he does, you have no choice but to follow in his footsteps. But he knows when the right time is to speak up. He also knows when to let other people talk, which is just as important. Even when he is going through some struggles at the plate -- and all the numbers say that he's due for a hot streak soon -- he's impacting the game and the team in different ways. Just a total pro.
As for a future manager? I don't even know when Salvy is going to retire from playing. I think he wants to be on the field as long as possible!
Is there a realistic path to the Majors for Jac Caglianone this season?
I figured we would get a Jac Caglianone question! And rightfully so, after another great night from him ... against future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, of all people.
Yes, there is a path for Caglianone to get to the Major Leagues this season. It probably isn't as soon as some fans want it to be. Caglianone has had some great moments in Double-A, but his weaknesses have been exposed there, too. He crushes mistake pitches -- that's good. He doesn't do so well against the offspeed stuff pitchers execute, which leads to the chase -- that's where he'll need to adjust, because Major League teams will expose that relentlessly at this level. He's also only played 16 games at the Double-A level this year, which is a really small sample size. So he's still settling in there, and then it's still really likely the Royals will want to send him to Triple-A, let him adjust there and force his way up with his production. So we're still a ways away from talking about a Jac Caglianone callup.
¡ I still think the path for Caglianone, barring injuries, is in the outfield.
Right now there is a lot of platooning and rotation, especially in the outfield. Is the plan to eventually settle on a group if/when the offense improves, or will there be continuous rotation? Along those lines, is there any talk of improving the outfield from internal options or via trade?
There is platooning and a rotation in the outfield because no one has taken the opportunity and run with it. After having one of the worst outfields last year, the Royals¡¯ outfield this year has a 52 wRC+ entering Wednesday night -- second-worst in the Majors. Their .532 OPS and -1.2 WAR are the worst in the Majors.
Yeah, manager Matt Quatraro would love to have an everyday group out there. But the reality is, he needs to mix and match with the players he has on the roster now just to try to find a spark. We'll continue to see Kyle Isbel in center field most nights because of his defensive value, but the Royals desperately need production in the corners.
I am really interested to see what Drew Waters does with this extended run of playing time. We know what the upside is and saw it Tuesday when he homered, tripled and scored two runs. We also have seen the frustrations, especially with the strikeouts. But he's playing freer right now, probably because he's not worried about getting sent down again, so we'll see what getting in a rhythm might do for him and the team.
I'd expect an outfield bat to be a major target for this team at the Trade Deadline. They haven't been able to land one yet, but we'll see if this summer is finally the time.
Regarding the team-wide culture, what has been the biggest change (or catalyst of change) since you started on the Royals beat?
Pitching philosophy, without a doubt. What pitching coach Brian Sweeney and Co. have done at the Major League level has been astounding -- the way they think about pitching, the way they talk to players about pitching and the way they execute their pitching plans has been a major difference. And that has a trickle-down effect as well. I give a lot of credit to senior director of pitching performance Paul Gibson and his team for what they've done to modernize the pitching development at every level of the Minor Leagues. There's still a lot of work to be done, but that's been the biggest change I've seen in five years here.