The point is that Greinke is basically trying to do something that hasn’t been done before — pitch effectively while simply not striking anybody out. Leave it to Zack to try something like that.

How would someone go about trying pitch effectively while not striking out anybody? I guess it would take three things:

You can’t give up home runs (and certainly not home runs with runners on base).

You can’t walk anybody.

You have to find a way to give up soft contact.

I’m not sure how you can do the third one without at least the threat of a strikeout. But so far, anyway, Greinke is doing great with the first two. He’s walked three batters all year. And he’s given up two home runs, and both of them were solo shots.

He’s doing the third one too … so far this season, his BABIP — Batting Average on Balls in Play — is .237, which would be far and away the lowest of his career. You will get a whole lot of disagreement about how much control a pitcher has over BABIP, so I don’t know what you can make of this.

But at this moment, Greinke has a 2.57 ERA even with those seven strikeouts.

Zack Greinke is heading back to where it all began, as the Royals have agreed to a one-year, $13 million deal with the free-agent right-hander, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Wednesday.

The club has not confirmed the deal, which is pending a physical.

Greinke has been a reliable starter, even as he’s entered his late 30s. The 18-year veteran went 11-6 with a 4.16 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 171 innings for the Astros in 2021 and made three appearances during Houston’s postseason run, including a scoreless four-inning start in Game 4 of the World Series against the Braves.