We were pleased to be joined by Jonah Keri, author of two great baseball books (The Extra 2% and Up, Up, and Away) and baseball writer for SI.com and CBSSports.com.
Keri compared his preseason evaluation of the Royals to the team we watch today and discussed how clustering and regression have the Royals falling back a bit after a World Series title in 2015. He also added his impressions of the AL Central race and where the Royals sit in relation to the other teams the rest of the way.
He also talked about his fandom of Tim Raines and Andre Dawson and the balance of having a connection as a fan to players but still maintaining a professional relationship with those players.
Just a reminder: Keri will be hosting a live podcast recording with Raines and Dawson on June 10th at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Also on hand during the night will be Sam Mellinger of the KC Star, Arturo Marcano of ESPN Deportes, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Darin Watson and Michael Engel of Baseball Prospectus Kansas City, and Max Rieper and Minda Haas Kuhlmann of Royals Review.
Tickets are available on HomestandSports.com for $25 *OR* $20 with the case-sensitive promo code “bpro”. Admission includes a year membership with the NLBM. (http://www.homestandsports.com/showslist/2016/6/10/pitch-talks-kansas-city)
More of Jonah Keri’s work can be found at JonahKeri.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @jonahkeri.
Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes and BlogTalkRadio. You can also download this episode here (mp3).
Follow the Vault at @KCBaseballVault. Follow host Jeff Herr at @TheJeffReport, co-host Michael Engel at @michaelengel. You can also email feedback to KansasCityBaseballVault@gmail.com.