All of the Royals have reported to Surprise, but there’s still a lot of time between now and Opening Day. I’ll be counting down the days with a collection of random Royals-related numbers. Most of them
mean nothing – this isn’t supposed to be a groundbreaking series of research –
but they’ll hopefully make the days go faster until April 5.
41 Days = 41 Alberto Callaspo doubles
Alberto “Bort” Callaspo’s power surge last year was fascinating. He had shown some ability to hit doubles in AAA in 2006 – 24 of them, in fact. But that was over 554 plate appearances. If he had doubled at that same rate with the Royals last year, he would only have hit 27 or 28. By Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projection, he was only going to hit 15 doubles.
But no, he doubled 41 times and also threw in 11 home runs – the first 11 of his Major League career.
Remember that grand slam on June 10 off of Carl Pavano? I believe KC was already up by 5, and then loaded the bases for Bort with two outs. My brother called the grand slam; I didn’t believe him. So, uh…hi brother. Good call.
What led to all that new power? Will it come back this year? And even if it does – will he even be in the lineup often enough for us to see it?
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