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Notable Stat
Passan: Relief innings pitched. The Royals lead baseball, and it's not even close. But even though they've been shuttling guys between Omaha and Kansas City, I still worry about the long-term viability of these guys' arms. I just hope that Ned Yost understands that he's got to ease off the throttle a little bit.
Brown: The Royals have made 32 outs on the bases, worst in the AL.
Keeler: As of June 26, the Royals had posted a 4.18 team ERA — not brilliant but not too far off the American League average of 3.98. The bullpen's put out more fires than Smokey the Bear.
Engel: The Royals are 14-23 at home but 21-19 on the road.
Ivie: The Royals are again on pace to register a ton of doubles. Seven players currently have 11 or more.
Stalder: The team is on pace to challenge the season mark of 335 doubles that was set in 2006. I know it's not much to cheer about, but it's something to track. The bad news is, they are also challenging for the most strikeouts in a season that was set in 2009. The record is 1,091 strikeouts in a season, and at the Royals' current pace, they will strike out 1,060 times.
Zimmerman: Hitters' batters-on-base is 7 percent, last in the AL.
Jazayerli: Tim Collins has struck out 49 batters in 34.1 innings, or 12.84 K's per nine innings. That's easily the highest rate in Royals history.
Underreported Stat
Passan: Eric Hosmer is missing cookies. On pitches in the middle of the strike zone — at the belt, bisecting the plate — he is batting .200 and has swung and missed eight times. Those are pitches every hitter, and especially the one in the cleanup spot, must pummel. A second: Alcides Escobar, of all people, leads the Royals in line drives.
Brown: Eric Hosmer has a .219 batting average on balls in play. League average is generally around .300. Last year, his was .314.
Keeler: As of June 26, the Royals were scoring 3.97 runs per game — the second-lowest average in the American League. We thought this would be a bad-pitching, good-hitting bunch, and it's looked like a mediocre-pitching, bad-hitting club instead.
Engel: Alcides Escobar is second on the team in base hits, with 70 as of June 21.
Ivie: Eric Hosmer has 32 RBIs as of June 18, which is third on the team, despite his slow start.
Stalder: Billy Butler's gradual ascension up the all-time ranks in Royals offense. He has already moved into the top 10 in most categories and is on pace to enter the top five in the next couple of seasons if he continues playing with the Royals. His doubles mark far surpasses that of George Brett at the same point in his career.
Zimmerman: The Royals are on pace to have the 13th-highest number of innings thrown by their relievers since 1974, at 43.2 percent.
Jazayerli: The Royals are dead last in the league in walks drawn. I can't overstate the importance of this. The Royals have refused to draw walks for pretty much the last 30 years, and that trend shows no sign of abating.
The Best Thing Dayton Moore Has Done
Brown: The minor league system was in shambles when he arrived in Kansas City, an absolute disaster. He's done a world-class job in building one of the best in the game.
