Swing early, swing often: KC getting burned in attempts to bust offensive slump
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alcides Escobar's royal blue helmet flew back across the plate Saturday afternoon, the bouncing protective piece of plastic serving as a stamp of annoyance for Kansas City and its offense.
Escobar had just struck out to cap the Royals' 4-2 loss to Texas -- the team's ninth in its last 11 games -- and he disagreed with home-plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth's determination that he offered at a ball in the dirt. Escobar believed he checked his swing in time, pulling off on Shawn Tolleson's 84-mph slider in time to render it a ball.
But Culbreth deemed Escobar to have swung, despite not asking for help from first-base umpire Jim Reynolds.
"I'm telling him, 'You can check to first base,'" Escobar said. Culbreth confirmed Escobar swung. "I say, 'What? I don't swing,'" Escobar responded.
But the call remained the same, even with Ned Yost emerging from the dugout to convince Culbreth that his shortstop didn't swing. The Royals' attempt at a comeback died with the call, the potential tying run despondently ambling to the dugout while his manager got an explanation.
"He said he felt he saw it good enough to call it," Yost said.
With Saturday's offensive performance, the Royals have now scored 23 runs in their last 11 games, including failing to score three runs on nine occasions -- all losses. The team is slashing .197/.253/.289 throughout the slump, averaging less than two extra-base hits a game.
A team batting average that once hovered around .290 now resides closer to .270. The rallies have disappeared as the hits evaporated and the walks remained simply a bonus. Kansas City has scored multiple runs in an inning just three times in the last 11 games. Its tally in the sixth inning Saturday broke a 19-inning scoreless streak.
"We're just simply not getting it done right now," Eric Hosmer said. "That's all there is to it."
Much of the struggles can be traced back to at-bats like Escobar's that ended the game -- when hitters chase balls out of the zone.
Before Saturday's game, Yost talked about the need for Royals hitters to "see the ball." He does not mean literally looking at the baseball, but instead picking up spin and movement, location and velocity as the pitcher releases the ball.
The Royals' lesson in pitch recognition had fallen off the tracks. Sliders looked like fastballs. Balls in the dirt appeared headed for the strike zone. Swings started early and left hitters looking foolish, flailing at the opposite batter's box and scrambling to hold up swings.
Hosmer said spin is easy to pick up when a hitter is locked in, able to hone in on the type and location. When a slump happens, they cheat. The Royals have been caught.
"A lot of us are getting beat, so we're trying to get it going a little earlier and that's what results in swinging at bad pitches and stuff," Hosmer said.
Throughout the last two weeks, Yost has repeatedly said he didn't know where slumps came from, why they happened or the reason for their welcome conclusion. As a player, Yost admitted to not picking up the ball much in his six-year career.
"But when I did see the ball well, the ball looks like it's this big," said Yost, who spread his hands as if he were holding a grapefruit. "When you're in it and you're seeing the ball, your timing's right and, boom, you're seeing the ball. When it doesn't, it looks like a golf ball coming in."
Watch the Royals Live pregame and postgame shows before and after every Kansas City Royals game on FOX Sports Kansas City.
The Royals' offensive output Saturday was an improvement, though. They had nine hits, tripling the three they mustered Friday. They had eight at-bats with runners in scoring position, seven more than a night before. The basepaths were busier with Jarrod Dyson swiping a base. Salvador Perez whacked a home run.
But still, Kansas City failed to draw a walk and struck out five times, including Escobar's game-ending punch-out.
When Yost explained "seeing the ball," the idea seemed easy yet complex, clear but convoluted.
"It is simple," Yost said, "but it's very hard."
You can follow Matthew DeFranks on Twitter at @MDeFranks or email him at matthew.defranks@gmail.com.
