Bobby Wins Another Award, Royals Clarify Hitting Coach Structure

Can Lucas Erceg be trusted with the ninth inning? He went down to the minors and came back, and Jacob Milham and Jeremy Greco have different ideas about what that stretch showed and whether clearer bullpen roles could help Kansas City’s relievers find some consistency.

The rest of the Royals’ winter is taking shape too. Bobby Witt Jr. won his third straight Heart and Hustle Award, and the hosts get into how the award is picked. The hitting coach staff has a new look, with Conor Dawson moving to offensive coordinator and each coach bringing a different kind of expertise, and the Royals are reportedly adding a veteran pro scout from Boston. That leads to a bigger question: what do front office titles even mean now, and how should a team balance analytics, scouting, and what you see with your own eyes?

Then there is the check swing. What actually counts as a swing, how would an automated challenge system handle it, and would more generous calls put more balls in play? Jacob also shows off the ABS challenge-advisor tool he is building. And yes, there is a cautionary tale about a fake Sonny Gray report that came out of an AI-generated article.

If you want a Royals offseason conversation with some real opinions in it, press play, then tell us whether Erceg should close.

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