The Athletic: The Royals’ rebuild was supposed to be built on pitching. What has gone wrong? [$]

In Kansas City, much of the ire has been directed at pitching coach Cal Eldred, who, aside from the shortened 2020 season, has not had a pitching staff finish better than 11th in the American League in ERA since his 2018 hiring. The Royals will make decisions on their major-league staff this winter, but a survey of rival executives, coaches, player development coordinators, scouts and former Royals pitchers reveals a fuller picture of the club’s struggles to develop pitching — particularly homegrown starters. Rival executives wonder about the speed at which prospects reached the majors. Scouts question pitch usage and the implementation of data. Former pitchers lament development methods that felt too rigid.

“If these stud pitchers — Kowar, Lynch, Singer, all these guys — had they been Dodgers or Rays or Guardians, they would be very, very good,” said one rival pro scout, referencing three clubs seen as at the forefront of pitching development. “But unfortunately … they haven’t been taught how to move well. They haven’t been introduced to the metrics that gives them an idea of how they can pitch most effectively.”

“I just think they’ve been insanely aggressive in pushing some of these guys,” added one rival executive. “And I think when you do that with pitchers, you just destroy their development.”

“They’re still further behind than most organizations, just in terms of their implementation of technology and truly understanding data, what it means, and how to implement it into player-specific development plans,” a third scout said, adding, “I just feel like they’re trying to search for what the recipe is.”