KANSAS CITY -- Tyler Zuber is learning to trust his stuff again, and Monday night¡¯s outing against the Rays was another step in the right direction.
The Royals reliever reported to the Minor League side of Spring Training camp with homework in hand after he was optioned in mid-March, extinguishing his chances of starting the season in the Opening Day bullpen. Zuber needed to get back to what he did so well in the Minor Leagues -- attacking hitters in the zone, instead of nibbling on the corners and struggling with command.
On Monday, Zuber pitched two perfect innings with two strikeouts in the Royals¡¯ 4-1 loss. Of the six batters he faced, he got behind in the count against two (Randy Arozarena and Mike Brosseau) only to come back and strike both out. In Tuesday's 14-7 loss, he allowed a hard-hit double to Austin Meadows but got out of the inning unscathed with two strikeouts. He got behind 3-0 to Arozarena again but got the outfielder to strike out swinging on a slider.
¡°For me, is was getting back to attacking hitters and getting the confidence back up,¡± Zuber said. ¡°You don¡¯t ever want to get told you¡¯re going down, so for a day -- I can¡¯t lie -- it felt like a kick in a gut. But then I went right back at it to get my confidence back. So that way, whenever I came back up here, I came back with a completely different mindset than before. I was ready. I felt more prepared now than what I¡¯ve ever been.¡±
As a rookie in 2020, Zuber walked 20 in 22 innings, posting a 4.09 ERA. But the Royals have seen the elite stuff he possesses. The coaching staff pushed for him to be on the Opening Day roster in '20 because of what he showed in Spring Training, and he was a closer throughout the Minor Leagues, often being compared to Greg Holland or Jeff Montgomery, Kansas City¡¯s all-time saves leader.
Last season, Zuber had a 30 percent strikeout rate and held batters to a .197 average. The Royals think he can be a high-leverage arm eventually, but the walks hurt him in 2020. He described how his first time in the big leagues got into his head: He would try to hit the corners because he didn¡¯t want to risk a home run on a fastball in the zone, but hitters wouldn¡¯t swing at those pitches.
When Zuber showed similar stuff in Spring Training this year, the Royals asked him to work on attacking the zone before he joined them in Kansas City.
¡°We always talk about that balance of having confidence in yourself, respecting the opposition, but not giving too much credit,¡± Royals manager Mike Matheny said. ¡°And he was giving too much credit. He was trying to make pinpoint accuracy pitches. Early in the count, behind in the count, and it was working into leadoff walks. He was working into high pitch counts, he was working into constantly being behind. These guys were taking these borderline pitches.¡±
Zuber was called upon shortly after Jesse Hahn (right shoulder impingement) hit the injured list on April 12, and Matheny has said he expects Zuber to pitch ¡°significant innings.¡± Zuber has relied on his fastball, slider and curveball in two appearances this season, but he¡¯s also confident in his changeup when he needs it.
¡°I think it¡¯s kind of changing his mentality and get him to trust [himself], but there were some mechanical things that he needed to adjust also,¡± Matheny said. ¡°He looks good. He looks much better. ¡ I believe he could be a leverage piece for us.¡±
Worth noting
? With Rays lefty Rich Hill starting Tuesday night, the Royals have faced a franchise-record six consecutive left-handed starters, starting with the Toronto series over the weekend, when the Blue Jays threw four lefty starters. The last time Kansas City faced four southpaw starters in one series was from July 21-24, 1980, when it went 3-1 against White Sox lefties Britt Burns, Steve Trout, Ross Baumgarten and Rich Wortham.
? All but one of the four runs the Royals allowed Monday night was unearned, but starter Danny Duffy was handed the loss. He became the third Royals starting pitcher in the past 73 games to suffer a loss despite not allowing an earned run, joining Kris Bubic on Sept. 19, 2020, at Milwaukee (one unearned run in 5 1/3 innings) and Ronald Bola?os on July 26, 2020, at Cleveland (two in two innings). Prior to this 73-game stretch, Royals pitchers went 1,379 straight starts without such a loss, dating back to June 29, 2011 (Bruce Chen).