They are popping up and it’s dragging the offense down.
The Royals finally managed to have a big game offensively in their first tilt against the Brewers in their home opener. It seemed like every time I looked away, the Royals scored another run. Maybe I should have kept looking away more…or looked away during the Guardians series. My fault y’all.
With the new season so young, that game has an outsized effect on the overall team performance. The Royals as a team have a 101 wRC+ as of this writing, which ranks 15th in MLB. But they’ve done that by making what feels to me like a TON of weak contact. I think others noticed…there was some complaining about the popups during the Guardians series.
In fact, the Royals (again, as of this writing on April 1) have the highest average launch angle in the entire league, at 24 degrees. The Yankees are next at 21, and the White Sox are next at 17.
But while the Yankees have been slamming the ball all over the park with their torpedo bats, the Royals have been swinging more of a stick. According to that leaderboard I linked, they’re near the bottom of the league on average exit velocity and barrels. They’re dead last in hard hit%.
The Royals are not, in fact, elevating and celebrating. They’re … elevating and frustrating. I’ve seen too many guys hit a weak popup or can of corn fly ball and toss their bats in frustration.
It’s not just one guy, either. It’s India (leading the regulars at 36 degrees on average!), Massey, Perez, and others. Only Hunter Renfroe, Bobby, and Maikel have an average launch angle anywhere far away from that 24 degrees and are regularly playing.
Obviously, we’re just a couple games into the season. This is a small sample size and is going to change. The Royals return most of the same guys as last year, and the Royals were right around MLB average.
But man I’d love to stop seeing guys throw their bats in frustration after a weak popup.