This may get salty. Lorenzo Cain is quite displeased after Samardzija hits him with a pitch. Good portion of Royals bench empties.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) April 6, 2015This came right after Mike Moustakas had slammed a home run off Jeff Samardzija to give the Kansas City Royals a 4-0 lead over the Chicago White Sox, so Samardzija's intentions were pretty apparent. I flipped over to the game and nothing came of it, but I did hear the announcer say that was the first opposite-field home run of Moustakas' career.
Which ... well, that kind of explains a lot of things, doesn't it? That was the 53rd home run he's hit in the majors, and the first to left field or left-center. Of course, a hitter with such extreme pull tendencies is easier to pitch to, which explains why Moustakas has gone from a .708 OPS in 2012 to .651 to .632, despite a strikeout rate below the league average.
Last season, teams started shifting heavily on Moustakas and he hit just .154 on ground balls, the third-lowest average in the majors among players who hit at least 100 grounders. (He ranked ninth in the majors in most shifts against him.)
Most hitters pull the ground ball at least 80 percent of the time, so Moustakas isn't necessarily unique in that regard. But he also has to figure out how to start hitting more line drives and fly balls to the opposite field. Maybe Monday's home run is a start to him untapping more of his potential at the plate.
As for Samardzija, he had a terrible spring -- nine home runs allowed -- and didn't pitch well Monday, allowing six runs and six hits, hitting two batters, walking two and striking out just one. The Royals are a good contact team, as we saw last October, but one strikeout isn't a good sign. Clearly, he has issues to address and took out his frustration when he hit Lorenzo Cain.
