A rotation battle is taking shape

It feels like we've hit the Spring Training Doldrums. You know, that stretch of games after the buzz of the "baseball's back!" excitement wears off and we're just ready for the games to count for real. At least we have the World Baseball Classic as a wonderful diversion. I gotta be honest though...it's like having six or seven World Series games in a single day. It's damn near exhausting trying to keep up.

It's more of a chore than usual to sweat the Cactus League at this point with the five best hitters in the Royals lineup away for national team duty. But there are just two more weeks of Arizona baseball before the Royals break camp and head to Texas for two more exhibition games ahead of traveling to Atlanta for the season opener.

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The Royals dropped their second consecutive Cactus League game on Monday, falling 6-2 to the Cleveland Guardians. Ryan Bergert had the start, throwing three innings (47 pitches), allowing three hits, two runs and a walk while striking out a pair. The runs allowed from Bergert were his first of the spring after a pair of scoreless outings.

It was a bit of a rough start on Monday as Bergert had difficulty commanding his four-seam, consistently delivering it high and out of the zone while also missing predominantly on the arm side.

That's not what I would call an attractive pitch chart. Bergert acknowledged the struggle with the fastball.

"I think I just felt it early...I couldn't put it where I wanted to so I kind of wanted to work on it a little bit. It felt good coming out. Just needed to hone it in a little bit."

Something Bergert did not mention, but was noted on the radio broadcast (with newlywed Denny Matthews on the call) was that a few pitchers were having difficulty with the landing spot on the mount. Later in the game, Lucas Erceg slipped while delivering a pitch that caused a brief moment of alarm as the Royals were worried he tweaked something in his knee. We know enough these days to understand difficulties with the mound can lead to injuries to the arm. I'm certain the mound issue will be addressed and fixed.

With Noah Cameron's struggles this spring (7.2 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO), there's an opportunity for Bergert to push his way into a conversation for the fifth starter role. There's obviously still some work to do on his part and if Cameron gets right over his next couple of outings it's a moot competition anyway, but there's a scenario that's not so far-fetched where a battle for that final rotation start gets hot.

Switching gears to the WBC, Bobby Witt Jr. put on a defensive clinic against Mexico in Monday's 5-3 victory.

Oh, he also hit two doubles, took a walk and swiped a base. All in a day's work.

If you haven't tuned into any of the WBC, what's wrong with you? I kid...but for real, if you haven't watched any of this, you're missing out. The baseball isn't always of quality, but there's an enthusiasm that is infectious. These games are fun. And they are the perfect appetizer for what is to come.

Tomorrow may be a good time to tune in as Witt and Team USA square off against Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone and Team Italy. It's a battle of the undefeateds in Pool B. First pitch is scheduled at 8 on FS1.

Carlos Estévez finally saw his first action for Team Dominican Republic in the WBC on Monday. It was a bit perplexing.

For starters, his velocity remained way down. After averaging 95.9 mph on his four-seam fastball last year, he was down to an average of 90.8 mph in his outing on Monday. I understand it's spring and this seems to be the Estévez modus operandi when it comes to getting ready for the regular season. He's a veteran, he's a reliever and he's seemingly in sync with his body. And he was pitching in an 8-1 game against Team Israel. His final line was one inning of work with a walk and a hit allowed and a strikeout.

In his Cactus League debut a couple of weeks ago, he was living 86-88 mph on the four-seam. So maybe incremental velocity progress is a good thing? He did set Harrison Bader down on strikes, with Bader chasing a couple of those 90 mph fastballs up and out of the zone.

The Dominican Republic has advanced to the quarterfinals so Estévez will remain away from the Royals camp for at least the rest of this week. Since he pitched Monday, he won't see action in the DR's final pool game on Tuesday. That means his next opportunity for action will be on Friday at the earliest. You see where I'm going with this...the hope is that the WBC schedule doesn't prevent Estévez from properly building up for the regular season.

Back in Surprise, bullpen dark horse Steven Cruz faced four batters in the Royals Cactus League game on Monday and retired all four. He needed just 12 pitches.

After including him in the bullpen in my first pass, I dropped Cruz from my most recent roster projection. Perhaps I should rethink that as he's thrown 3.1 innings and has yet to allow a hit. He's walked one and struck out four. Here's manager Matt Quatraro on how Cruz has looked this spring:

"His progress from the time we got him until now has been remarkable. Strike throwing, confidence, being able to pitch to lefties. All those things. And we've seen that continue this spring. He's done a good job. His stuff has been really good, the cutter especially. I think he still has some conditioning to build up to get his peak velo back, but he's still 94, 96, so there's plenty there, but I know there's more as well."

Cruz was sitting 96.6 on his four-seam, which is about a tick and a half below his average last year. He did touch 97.5 mph at one point, so as Quatraro says, there's some work to be done but he's very close.

"We see him in the future as being a back end guy. (This year) he'd be more the guy in the middle to bridge the gap...Certainly see him as somebody who can get righties and lefties out and pitch late in games."

The Royals did us a favor and mapped out their pitching plans for the bulk of the week, the highlight of which will be the split squad games on Wednesday. I love a good split squad contest. And with the rosters down through the WBC, it adds an extra layer of fun.

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The Royals were kind enough to publish their pitching plans over the next three days, which includes a split squad on Wednesday.

Tue, March 10 at Sea

Cole Ragans, Daniel Lynch IV, Hector Neris, Helcris Olivárez

Wed, March 11 vs SF

Bailey Falter, Aaron Sanchez, John Schreiber, Alex Lange, Jose Cuas 

Wed, March 11 at CHC

Mitch Spence, Matt Strahm, Mason Black, Frank Mozzicato

Thur, March 12 at SD

Kris Bubic, Lucas Erceg, Nick Mears, Eli Morgan, Hector Neris

Wednesday's start for Bailey Falter could be an important one for the lefty as he will be making his case for a spot in the rotation. Remember, he's out of options so it's very likely he will make the team in some capacity. And with Cameron's struggles, there's an opportunity for Falter to force his way into that fifth starter conversation.