Q & A with Luke Hochevar during Royals Caravan stop

Hochevar signs autographs at the Royals Caravan

During the Royals Caravan stop at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center last week, Luke Hochevar met with members of the media. Here is the Q & A from that session:

There have been a few changes since the season ended. Zack Greinke is gone. Gil Meche retired and it sounds like they are looking at you as the Opening Day starter. What are your thoughts about that?

When you lose one or two bona fide aces – with Gil retiring and Zack getting traded, you know, it creates room for young guys to come up and to have a young squad. With that, having the opportunity to pitch in that spot – it really excites me. If that’s the case, I’m willing to take the ball, really, any day they tell me to take the ball. I’m excited about it.

Thousands show up for Werner Park open house

Storm Chasers' broadcaster Mark Nasser
poses with Vortex at the open house

More than 5,000 anxious fans showed up yesterday for the open house at Werner Park, even though temperatures were in the mid-20s and the wind was quite stiff at times.

“Today we were overwhelmed by the number of people who came,” said Rob Crain, assistant general manager of the Omaha Storm Chasers. “It was great support by the community and how excited they are to see Storm Chaser baseball at Werner Park. We’re excited – it’s just 83 more days until we open the season and open Werner Park for real.”

Fans munched on free hotdogs, posed for pictures with Vortex and Stormy (the new team mascots) and browsed the newly opened souvenir shop. They also had a chance to take a quick tour of the ballpark, learning about its nuances while taking refuge in one of the temperature controlled suites that will be available during the season.

Royals Caravan stops at Children's Hospital & Medical Center

The Royals Caravan made a stop at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center on Thursday. Alex Gordon, Luke Hochevar, Frank White and John Mayberry visited children, bringing smiles to their faces as they chatted with them.

Isabella cuts her eyes at Luke Hochevar

“Who is your favorite team?” one of players asked a 13-year-old boy named Paul.

“The Royals, now,” Paul said.

The players, and former players, stopped by the room of an 11-year-old girl named Kyra. They found out she likes to play soccer.

Michael, a 15-year-old, wanted to talk about football and Hochevar was more than willing, asking him who was going to win this weekend. Michael is a Steelers fan, so that was his pick.

Q & A with Alex Gordon during Royals Caravan stop

The Kansas City Royals Caravan rolled into Omaha on Thursday, making a stop at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center to visit children and then moved on to the Ultimate Baseball Academy where players took questions from fans and signed autographs.

Alex Gordon, Luke Hochevar, Frank White and John Mayberry were on the caravan this year. Mitch Meier was scheduled to be there as well, but was unable to make it due to travel issues. Gordon, Hochevar, and White met with the media at the hospital and you’ll be able to read what they had to say here over the next few days.

Here is the Q & A with Gordon:

Gil Meche announces his retirement

Gil Meche in action for Omaha
(Photo: Eldon Lindsay/omahastormchasers.com)

When the Royals signed Gil Meche before the 2007 season to a 5-year/$55 million contract, I wrote a short post for my Royal Reflections blog at the time quoting Jeff Passan who said this about the Meche signing:

“If the Royals were going to give out that amount of years and dollars, why didn’t they just go after A.J. Burnett last season? In Meche, they get a sinkerballer who spent time in the minor leagues two years ago and has found minimal success at the big-league level.”

But Royals fans held their breath and hoped. There’s been a lot of that over the years.

Meche temporarily squashed any concerns when he took the mound on Opening Day 2007 and shut down the Red Sox, giving up just one run in 7.1 innings.