A few knee-jerk reactions from one game

Only 161 games left to go.

The Royals dropped their season opener on Thursday against the Twins, a 4-1 loss on an otherwise gorgeous (albeit windy) afternoon. The baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint, and we have 161 games left to react to, but with an off-day today, there is only one game to chew on for the next 24 hours, so why not overreact to one game?

First of all, I attended the game and the K looked gorgeous. I actually thought the stadium was starting to show a fair amount of wear and tear last year (perhaps by design to galvanize support for a new stadium?) but the ol’ gal looked great on Opening Day. I do tease about the “concrete cancer” claims, but there are spots where moisture drips from the second level through the ceiling onto the lower concourse, so I don’t doubt there may be some concerns about the bones. But cosmetically, the place looked great, especially with a full house. And for anyone concerned about parking and traffic downtown, it wasn’t exactly a breeze to get out of Kauffman on a sold out day! Getting 38,000 people out of anywhere is going to be a hassle.

Ragans’ last spring training start caused some concern, but when it counted he was throwing with good command of his pitches. Of his 97 offerings, 66 were for strikes, with 15 called strikes and 19 whiffs - the second-most swing-and-misses among any Opening Day starter. He also seemed to add some vertical break, although it is hard to say with the small sample size. His change-up was very impressive - a 60 percent whiff rate! - and he mixed and matched pitches well all afternoon.

Ragans set a club record with nine strikeouts in an Opening Day start, passing Danny Duffy’s eight in 2017, and all nine were of the swing-and-miss variety. I agree with David Lesky that the first inning mistake to Royce Lewis that was hit over the wall on an 0-2 pitch, may have been some Opening Day hubris, with Ragans wanting to blow one by the star Twins hitter with a bump of adrenaline. But despite that mistake, Ragans looked pretty fantastic as advertised.

Maikel Garcia got his 2024 season off to a bang with a 398 foot-home run into the visitor’s bullpen. Later in the game he hit a 395-foot fly out, then hit a laser to centerfield for an out that he hit 105 mph. Garcia doesn’t have to hit for a lot of power to be a very valuable player - his speed, defense, and ability to get on base will get him to 2 WAR - but if he’s going to start hitting for power? Watch out. He seemed to hit for more authority in winter ball, so it would be a huge development if he develops even modest power.

Aside from Garcia, the offense was a bit of a dud, which shouldn’t be a surprise. This offense still features a lot of low on-base guys that will struggle to score runs all year. The Royals drew just one walk, and worked a three-ball count just three times. They swung at 40 percent of pitches out of the strike zone and swung and missed at 16.8 percent of all pitches they faced. A lot of credit goes to Pablo López, he is one of the best pitchers in the league, but the lineup showed little patience or fight at the plate.

Vinnie Pasquantino was rather disappointing with an 0-for-4, leaving two runners on base and failing to hit the ball with much authority. It may take time for him to get his sea legs under him after missing much of the second half, but if the Royals want to get off to a decent start to begin the year, they really need him to be a run producer.

Bobby Witt Jr. had a bloop double (that fell in no man’s land in shallow center and was kicked by Carlos Correa) that was a good example of how his speed could be an asset - in fact he seemed like he might have had a shot at making it a triple. He drew a walk in the ninth which is pretty encouraging because I think in his rookie year he would press and feel he had to win the game himself and do too much. Griffin Jax kept everything away from Bobby, likely hoping he’d chase, but Bobby didn’t bite. He showed some good awareness knowing the Royals needed baserunners at that point.

Oof, it was not a great game for Salvy. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and swung at 13 of the 16 pitches he saw. He struck out in the ninth by swinging at two sweepers well out of the strike zone. He’s always been this, but you wonder how much longer he can continue being such a free swinger.

Apparently, Hunter Renfroe played. I don’t remember anything he did.

Matt Quatraro got a bit of a pass last year in bullpen management because he had an island of misfit toys to work with, but now that he has actual Major League relievers, we can give him a bit more scrutiny. Ragans exited after six innings and Quatraro brought in Nick Anderson, who worked around a one-out single to keep the Twins scoreless.

In the eighth inning of a 2-1 game with every reliever fresh, Quatraro brought in Angel Zerpa, who has all of 59 ²⁄₃ Major League innings with 14 relief appearances under his belt. I thought maybe this was a good time to bring in one of the veterans, like Chris Stratton or John Schreiber, but Lesky wisely pointed out that the Royals likely wanted a lefty on the mound to have Santana to hit from the right side, and to face lefty Max Kepler.

But the Royals have another lefty - Will Smith! He’s a far more polished late-inning reliever who was brought in as a free agent to some fanfare. It is likely that Quatraro was saving Smith for a ninth-inning save situation, something that never materialized. Quatraro was fairly fluid with roles last year, not rigidly adhering to a set closer, which I welcome, so to see him stick to Smith as his “ninth-inning closer” is a bit disappointing. Maybe there was something more specific about the matchup that suggested Zerpa was a better option, but it was a bit of a head-scratching decision. Ultimately it didn’t matter - Zerpa worked around two singles to keep the Twins off the board - but it will be interesting to see how Quatraro handles an improved bullpen.

Chris Stratton struggled mightily in his Royals debut, but I won’t panic about it quite yet. There is going to be some reliever that gets off to a poor start and has an ERA close to 8 after April that fans will be calling on to be released, that goes on to have 20 games in a row without giving up a run and ends the year with a decent ERA. Stratton is an early favorite for that. He couldn’t locate well at all, but he’ll have better days. I hope.

Roster decisions matter, and I questioned whether having no left-handed options to pinch hit for Kyle Isbel in the eighth was hamstringing Quatraro. Isbel is a lefty himself, but a poor hitter. He ended up coming up with a clutch single - good for him! - but although I’m not a big Nick Pratto booster, I wondered if that wouldn’t be the perfect time to have him coming off the bench.

Well, one game down, 161 to go. What were your thoughts through one game?