The St. Louis Cardinals will participate in baseball games against the Kansas City Royals

Hey! Baseball and stuff is happening this weekend! The St. Louis Cardinals will travel to Kansas City to take on the Royals. The Royals at 37-80 have had an even rougher season than the Cardinals so far. So... this should be exciting, right?

On Friday night the Cardinals are scheduled to face right-hander Dylan Coleman. The 26-year-old Coleman has pitched just under 88 major league innings after making his debut in 2021. In those innings he has a 24.5% K rate to a 13.4% walk rate for a 3.86 ERA and 4.05 FIP. He primarily throws a 4-seamer, along with a sweeper, and a slider. In past seasons he mixed in a rare sinker around 98 mph, but looks to only throw the 4-seamer around 95 mph in 2023.

The 25-year-old lefty Cole Ragans takes the mound on Saturday. He is in his second season in the big leagues with 82 career innings. He mixes in 4 to 5 different pitches, primarily throwing a 4-seamer along with a changeup. He occasionally throws a curveball and cutter and has rarely thrown a slider, per Baseball Savant. In his career he has a 20.9% K rate and a 9.7% walk rate with a 4.39 ERA and 4.27 FIP.

In relief the Royals’ top pitcher this season has been Aroldis Chapman — he had a 2.45 ERA and 1.69 FIP in 29 innings pitched for the Royals. He is in the 100th percentile in fastball velocity, averaging over 101 mph on his sinker. The Cardinals don’t have to worry about him though as he is no longer with the Royals after being traded to the Texas Rangers. Austin Cox has pitched just under 20 innings and has 1.86 ERA with a 2.90 FIP. He might be the most successful reliever in the ‘pen for the Royals now.

On offense the Royals are 29th in baseball in wRC+ at 85. Their best player by a lot has been Bobby Witt Jr. — he leads the Royals in fWAR at 4.0. He is slashing just a 110 wRC+, but has supplied really strong defense at shortstop. He might be the best defensive shortstop in baseball with a league-leading 13 outs above average — though it is important to not these metrics can take a lot of data to stabilize. The eye test checks out on him though — he makes a lot of really good plays.

Witt Jr. might be the Royals best qualified hitter per wRC+ as well. The only players with higher on the Royals are Freddy Fermin with a 134 wRC+ in 170 plate appearances and Matt Beaty with a 124 wRC+ in just 24 plate appearances. Vinnie Pasquantino is fourth on the team with a 105 wRC+. No other Royals hitters are hitting above 100 in that stat.

I swear I am not trying to mail it in on this preview, but that is sort of all there is to mention. The Royals are just having a tough year. Bobby Witt Jr. looks fantastic though — he should be a fun player to watch in the future. After him, there isn’t a lot to discuss, at least with this series. Here are the pitching matchups...

Matchups:

Friday, August 11 at 7:10 pm CT: Adam Wainwright vs. Dylan Coleman
Saturday, August 12 at 6:10 pm CT: Steven Matz vs. Cole Ragans