Royals Head to Pittsburgh for Final Road Series of the Season: Stats and Trends to Keep an Eye on
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The long season is starting to come to a close for the Royals as they will begin their final road series of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates. September has not treated the Royals well as they have yet to win a series in the month. They will look to get a series win against the Pirates, so here are the probable starters and some stats and trends to keep an eye on.
Probable Starters
Game One: Randy Dobnak (3-4, 2.73 ERA) vs. Paul Skenes (10-11, 3.78 ERA)
Game Two: Noah Cameron (9-8, 3.84 ERA) vs. Bubba Chandler (8-9, 4.28 ERA)
Game Three: Michael Wacha (9-9, 3.34 ERA) vs. Lake Bachar (1-4, 3.54 ERA)
Carter Jensen continues Owning September
The best batter in terms of wRC+ in September is Carter Jensen at 246, and in his career, he has owned September with a career wRC+ of 199. Jensen is top 20 this month in average, OBP, and slugging while having the second best OPS behind Elly De La Cruz. He and De La Cruz both sport the best slugging percentages in the month with Jensen at .843, two points behind De La Cruz.
The biggest reason for his strong September this go around is that his power has been at the forefront. In terms of ISO, Jensen's .490 leads all batters in September. His ISO is that high due to the fact that, of his 18 hits in the month, 14 of them have been extra-base hits. If he continues showing the power, it is likely he takes over the Royals Rookie home run record and could make a run at 30 long balls if he stays hot.
The One-Two Punch No One Expected
It has been a tough season for the Royals, who have vastly underperformed after having playoff expectations, but a silver lining is that they found a one-two punch in the rotation. Noah Cameron and Randy Dobnak have put together great second halves to the year. While Michael Wacha has continued to be old reliable for the Royals, not many expected Cameron or Dobnak to be two of the better pitchers in the league in the second half.
Cameron has dominated ever since he took control of calling his own game. He has an ERA of 2.42 in the second half of the year, and he has six quality starts in those nine second-half starts. For Dobnak, it isn't always the cleanest outings, but he has put together one of his better season as a whole in this second half alone.
During his tenure with the Royals, he has career highs in innings pitched, Ks, quality starts, and LOB%. While he has been inefficient at times, he continues to be able to get out of trouble and give the Royals good starts this season. The only question for Dobnak is if he has done enough to secure his spot on next year's team.
A Lot of Firsts in this Series
This is a series where both teams don't have a ton of reps against one another. For Pirates pitching specifically, both Paul Skenes and Bubba Chandler haven't faced the Royals in their careers. While both haven't had the years they have wanted, it might be beneficial for them to face a team they haven't seen.
On the Royals side of the rotation, both Dobnak and Cameron have seen the Pirates once and they each have a quality start against them. Combined, they have 13.0 innings pitched, allowing two runs (both on Cameron), and eight Ks (seven of which are Cameron's). The only issue for both of them is that they faced Pirate squads that were different as not many current Pirates players have seen either of them.
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Trey is no stranger to writing about the Royals as he has done it for 6 years now for various blogs (Kings of Kauffman, Inside The Royals, and Farm to Fountains). He is a graduate of Baker University with a degree in Mass Media with an emphasis in sports media. He enjoys watching and researching sports as well as gaming.
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