Remembering Paul Splittorff

If you look closely, you can
see Splittorff's autograph

I received a nice email from a Royals fan this morning after news broke about Paul Splittorff’s death. He echoed what we’re all feeling today, saying it is a sad day in Royals land.

“His autograph is on a ball no more than five feet from me now,” he said. “Had it signed, along with several other O-Royals players at the time, when they had a meet and greet, probably around '70. I remember my mother taking me. I would have been around seven at the time.

“Included in several of the emails I received this morning was the interview you did with him in Sept. of last year. Great interview and his genuine love for the organization really comes out during it. I had tears flowing both times I watched it.”

Here’s the video interview:

Mike Jirschele wins his 1,000th career game as a manager

Photo: Andrea Stava / Omaha Storm Chasers

He had to wait for a while to get it, but Mike Jirschele won his 1000th game as a professional manager Monday night when the Omaha Storm Chasers defeated the Tucson Padres 2-1, thanks in part to a strong pitching effort from starter Kevin Pucetas (1 ER in 7.0 IP) and an outstanding effort from reliever Mario Santiago (0 ER in 2.0 IP).

Jirschele sounded more relieved than happy after the game.

“I’m just happy it’s over because we’ve been waiting for a while for this one,” Jirschele said. “I just wanted to get it out of the way. In fact, I didn’t even know I was that close to a thousand until we were on that last road trip and Mark Nasser, the radio guy, said, ‘Do you know what win that was? 999.’ I had no idea.

“You know, to me that doesn’t mean anything. Yeah, you won a thousand games, but I don’t win the games anyway. Those guys out there playing are the ones that win the games.”

Johnny Rodgers and Steve Rosenblatt make an appearance

Johnny "The Jet" Rodgers prepares to throw one of the
ceremonial first pitches at Werner Park.

Mike Moustakas is starting to make a habit out of playing catch with kids at Werner Park before games. Tonight, there was a little league team on the field for the pre-game ceremonies and Moose took turns playing catch with several of them.

*****

Johnny “The Jet” Rodgers threw out one of the ceremonial first pitches. This was his first time at Werner Park. He said they had to give him directions to find the stadium.

The 1972 Heisman Trophy winner spent some time warming up before he took the mound. Afterward, he appeared to be pretty happy about getting the ball to the plate.

“I’m impressed that I was able to make it to the catcher after all these years,” the 59-year-old said. “They always remember if it bounces.”

Tommy Gregg talks hitting as the Storm Chasers offense explodes

The Omaha Storm Chasers have scored 52 runs on 72 hits during their current four-game winning streak. Fittingly, hitting coach Tommy Gregg was Mark Nasser’s guest last night on the pregame show and they talked about the team’s recent offensive explosion.

“It’s not me,” Gregg said. “Let’s get that straight first. I had nothing to do with it. I don’t hold the bats for them. All I’m doing is telling them what we want from them and how we want them to hit the ball ...”

“It helps when you’re in Reno and Colorado Springs where the ball carries well, the infields are hard ... ground balls get through the holes, balls get into the gaps that usually don’t, so it’s nice to see guys taking advantage of the elements.”

Tejeda's fastball touches 95 in rehab appearance

Robinson Tejeda’s fastball touched 95 mph twice on Sunday afternoon at Werner Park in a 10-2 blowout win by Omaha over the Oklahoma City Redhawks, showing improved velocity from his first rehab appearance on Friday.

During that performance he topped out at 93 mph, but was mostly in the 90-92 mph range. He said after the game that his velocity would return. Tejeda is in Omaha on a rehab assignment after going on the DL on April 14 with shoulder inflammation.

On Sunday Tejeda faced seven total hitters in the seventh and eighth innings. He threw 22 pitches, 16 for strikes.

Here’s a rundown of what happened with each hitter.

• Tejeda threw Koby Clemens four straight fastballs (91, 92, 95, 94) during the AB – all of which were around the plate. He got Clemens to strike out on a foul tip on the fourth pitch.

11-year-old plays catch with Mike Moustakas

Rachel Lowry poses with her son, Austin

As any 11-year-old boy would be, Austin Lowry was excited to get the opportunity to throw out one of the ceremonial first pitches at the Omaha Storm Chasers game on Sunday afternoon.

It was his first trip to Werner Park and he came prepared. He brought his baseball glove and he wore his Storm Chasers t-shirt – which he got autographed by pitchers Blaine Hardy and Greg Holland as well as infielder Irving Falu.

That’s a pretty good day, but it got even better. While Austin was on the field, waiting to take the mound before the national anthem, he pretended to be throwing pitches. Omaha third baseman Mike Moustakas spotted him and invited him to play catch.

Tejeda says velocity will come

Robinson Tejeda in action earlier this season
(Photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

Last night at Werner Park Robinson Tejeda showed flashes of the pitcher we've seen in the past. His fastball peaked at 93 mph on the final pitch he threw, but he still has some work to do if he is going to get his velocity back to where it has been throughout his career.

Last season, according to FanGraphs.com, Tejeda averaged 93.7 mph on his fastball. His fastball was noticeably slower (88.8 mph average) to start this season. The Royals placed him on the DL on April 14 with shoulder inflammation. Last night was his first rehab appearance.

He threw 13 fastballs, at least ten of which were 90 mph or better, according to the stadium radar gun. He hit 90 mph three times; 91 mph four times; 92 mph twice; and 93 mph once. He also hit 88 mph once and 89 once (which turned out to be a single). I missed one of his fastballs, so I can’t give you the speed on that particular pitch.

Hosmer gets the call to Kansas City

The videogame-esque numbers that Eric Hosmer has put up this season were just too much for Dayton Moore to overlook. So he called Hosmer up to the big leagues yesterday and sent Kila Ka’aihue to Omaha.

Hosmer hit .439 with a .525 OBP in 26 games for Omaha. As crazy as those numbers are, the big left-handed hitter was even better against lefties (.500/.568/.813) in Omaha than righties (.409/.506/.470). He consistently drove the ball back up the middle for base hits. And the only question at this point has been his power (3 HR against lefties/0 HR against righties), but the theory is, his power will increase as he gets older.

Ned Yost says Hosmer will go into the lineup in Kansas City immediately.