Rainy night Omaha Royals thoughts

I don’t want to talk about the way Kansas City managed to make Zach Miner look like a Cy Young candidate (again), and the Omaha game got rained out, so I have a few moments to address some questions that were brought up in a comment in another post.

Reader KMartin said:

What’s you early-season take on these players:

Hulett – As of the 20th, led or tied for team lead in OBP, SLG, RBI, (breath) SB, 2b, and 3b.
He really needs to let the other kids play.

Lubanski- a new Lubanski??

Rosa – any issues with him from his season-ending injury last year?

Thanks.

• Here we are on the 25th, and Tug Hulett still leads the team in OBP, SLG, OPS, RBI, 2B, total bases, and he’s tied for the team lead in triples. Goodness, that’s a long list. In 2007 with the Oklahoma RedHawks, Tug’s line was .275/.359/.406 in 132 games, and his 2008 line with the Tacoma Rainiers was .298/.380/.518 in 91 games.  In limited Major League playing time with the Mariners last year, Hulett showed the ability to walk more frequently than most current MLB Royals* (9.3%).

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hulett in the Major League picture in the dog days of summer, either because of injury or trade. Barring that, he himself might have some trade value come July. Either way, he – along with J.R. House and Travis Metcalf were some really nice acquisitions to give the Royals a bit of offensive depth.

*team average walk rate in 2008 was 6.5% – Yuck!

• The jury is still out on whether Chris Lubanski‘s extra time in the gym this winter paid off. As it stands, he’s batting a very nice .302/.397/.492. I hope he can keep hitting like this. Even though he’s a poster child of the Baird “signability over playability” draft philosopy, I still would like for this former first-rounder to make a career for himself beyond a plateau in Omaha.

• Carlos Rosa has had two pretty rough outings, including spoiling a 7-inning shutout that Brian Bannister threw at Albuquerque. But I do feel like he’ll settle in nicely as a reliever. Really, he has already started that transition, as he has 10 Ks and only 3 BBs in his 5 appearances so far. I wonder if the velocity on his fastball will go up now that he’s not starting, and how that will affect the liveliness of that pitch. I’ll be watching to see what kinds of adjustments happen there.

Sorry to take so long to address your thoughts, KMartin. I do enjoy reader questions/comments, so if you have those, e-mail me here. 

• Luke Hochevar was supposed to pitch tonight at Omaha, but the game was postponed for weather. Unfortunately, my friend and I had already driven all the way from Lincoln (about 55 miles) before that announcement came down. Hochevar will pitch the Sunday game, and tonight’s game will be made up on Monday. Check oroyals.com for further updates on how the postponement will affect the rest of the Omaha rotation. 

• One other update from elsewhere on the Farm: RHP Daniel Gutierrez said he’s about three weeks away from joining the Wilmington roster, after dealing with some shoulder issues. He said he’ll be in the Blue Rocks’ starting rotation right away at that point, rather than being eased in as a reliever first. Also, the reason his rehab is taking so long is just as a precaution, not because of any setbacks.

Related posts:

1. Thoughts from the 8-20 Royals win, because I was there.
2. Omaha Royals open at home tonight
3. Off-day thoughts