The newest member of the Kansas City bullpen is sure glad he doesn’t have to face the Royals hitters anymore.
The Royals acquired right-hander John Schreiber in a trade with the Red Sox last week, and Schreiber said he had always been impressed with the Royals young hitters from afar.
“I’ve talked to a few guys,” Schreiber said Tuesday from Surprise, Ariz. “The last couple of years I’ve pitched against Kansas City, and you can see that they’ve got a good group of guys here. And every time I played against Kansas City it seemed they had my stuff.
“They were hitting pretty good against me. So I’m glad I don’t have to face those young guys and this good corps.”
Schrieber, a 6-foot-2, 224-pounder, played in 46 games last season with Boston going 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA. Schrieber missed about two months last season with a lat strain but said he is healthy now and looking forward to whatever role the Royals have for him.
“My role with the Royals is whatever situation they want me to be in,” Schreiber said. “That’s been my mindset the last few years. I want to take the ball in whatever situation and go out there and compete.”
Besides giving the Royals more depth, Schreiber, 29, also gives them a different look out of the bullpen. Schreiber dips down and throws sidearm and has one of the lowest release points in the game.
“I’ve seen him quite a bit pitching in Boston,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He’s got real good stuff, super competitive. You think about a series, and you don’t want guys getting comfortable seeing the same exact arm slot or the same type of stuff over and over. So the more we can spread things out a little bit and make it tougher for the opposing hitters the better it is.”
With the Red Sox, Schreiber predominately pitched in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, and it seems likely that’s where he’ll pitch with the Royals. But Schreiber is hoping for a little better command this season. Last year he struck out 53 but walked 25 and gave up six homers in 46 2/3 innings.
But Schreiber said he made some adjustments in the offseason, which should bode well for this year.
“I worked on a cutter this offseason and I’m just trying to refine my pitches to be where they need to be and attack the zone better,” he said. “That’s something I didn’t do a good job last year of getting ahead in the count on guys. And I think that was one of the main factors. So this year I just got to attack the zone better against the hitters.”
