Minus the venerable veteran Joakim Soria, the Kansas City Royals bullpen had to have felt about like a college pitching staff last season. The primary contributors ranged in age from 21 to 25.

Whether by choice or by default, the Royals stocked their bullpen with rookies and rolled the dice last season. The results were mixed, but the experience gained gives KC much to be excited about going into 2012.

Greg Holland was the most effective setup man of the bunch.

“It was just a lot of fun,” Holland said of being part of such a young bullpen. “I think with being a young team we have a lot of camaraderie that I don’t know if a lot of other teams have.”

Holland leads a group of relievers, including Crow, Louis Coleman, Tim Collins, Blake Wood and Nate Adcock, who were barely old enough to buy a beer to celebrate victories last season. He said the group’s experience winning together at the minor league level could help them be successful in KC.

“We’ve been through highs and lows, all the way from the time we were drafted to being on the same (minor league) teams all the way up to the major league season.

“We’re young, but we expect to win,” Holland said at a recent Royals caravan stop. “I think being young, we’re ready to go out there and raise the bar.”

And no young reliever is generating more enthusiasm than Holland. While Aaron Crow got the most publicity and the all-star invitation, Holland quietly impressed those who know pitching best.

None other than Jeff Montgomery, media analyst and former Royals all-star, is singing Holland’s praises.

“He certainly has proven to himself, and to his teammates and to the organization, that he has the stuff to do whatever they want him to do as a major league pitcher,” Montgomery said recently, stating that Holland has all the makings of a big league closer.

A rocky big league baptism in 2010 forced Holland to begin last season in Omaha, but a promotion wasn’t long in coming.

While the other rookies ran hot and cold, Holland was consistent and effective from the moment he was promoted in May. In 60 innings, Holland surrendered just a .933 WHIP and struck out 74. His 1.80 ERA was by far the best of any Royal with more than 15 innings pitched.

Strikeouts have always been a part of Holland’s game. Unfortunately, so have control issues. Holland credits his ability to get ahead of hitters for the improvement.

“I got my first call-up in 2010, and my problem was not getting ahead in counts,” Holland said. “I was falling behind and then having to be too predictable. You know, 2-0 fastballs are a lot easier to hit than 0-2 fastballs.

“I knew, and the coaches knew, and the front office knew, that I had the stuff to be good. It was just how long is it going to take me to figure out how to get ahead. I really worked on it and got better at it and was able to do it for pretty much the whole year.”

Holland said he might have had more success than his bullpen mates because he learned to control his thoughts on the mound.

“I don’t have it all figured out, but I know I was able to control myself,” Holland said. “When things start going bad, it’s always better to give up one run than two runs. And you’re going to give up runs. So you’ve got to stay calm so that you don’t compound those mistakes.

“You see guys get amped up in those situations and then you walk a guy and that leads to an extra run. Being able to control your emotions helps a lot.”

Montgomery points to mechanics when describing Holland’s closer-type stuff.

“Everything he throws is going downhill,” Montgomery said. “Whether it’s from the arm angle or if its from the velocity, or the lack of, and the movement of the baseball, if things are going down, you have a chance to get hitters out. And that’s what I saw from Greg Holland from day one last year.

“He reminds me a lot of myself, because he’s a guy who wasn’t a high draft choice, wasn’t a guy who was expected to be closer someday. But he’s got the stuff to do it.”

Taken in the 10^th round as a 21-year-old out of Western Carolina University, Holland needed four-plus years of development in the minors to get him ready to succeed in the big leagues at age 26.

Montgomery, also a former collegian, was drafted in the 9^th round and didn’t become a full-time big leaguer until he was 26.

Montgomery spent a couple of years in the set up role before amassing 304 saves as a closer. Holland may well be on a similar career path. He saved four games last year, while also notching five wins in relief.

Holland so impressed the league that his name has come up in trade rumors this winter. But to this point, the Royals seem determined to hold onto him.

With Soria and newcomer Jonathan Broxton the likely candidates to close games this season, Holland’s role remains to be seen. But he says he doesn’t mind that KC added Broxton to the mix.

“He’s an all-star, and he’s proven he can close, so that was a really big move,” Holland said. “I feel like we’ve got four or five guys down there who are legitimate closers.”

Holland believes his bullpen mates will be more than just a year older this season. He foresees dramatic progress as a whole.

“We expect to do better than last year. If everyone stays healthy, you’ve got Broxton and Soria who are all-star caliber closers. And then Crow who was an all-star last year. Timmy (Collins) had some walk issues, but has electric stuff. We’ve all seen that. I think we have a really good chance of being a top-notch bullpen.”

Our friend Minda Haas was able to catch up with the Kansas City Royals Caravan in Omaha last week.

Minda took some great photos and wanted to share them with the fans of i70baseball.

All images are copyrighted by Minda Haas
You can reach Minda via email at minda.haas@gmail.com
Visit Minda’s Site, Royal Blues, by clicking here.

Fans lined up in towns throughout the Royals’ region to meet current and former players on the 2011 Royals Caravan. Among them, Billy Butler and Kila Ka’aihue gave fans their perspective from the vantage point of first base.

The first-base tandem made appearances as part of the annual caravan in Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas, as did Alex Gordon, Luke Hochevar, Jason Kendall, Mitch Maier and Royals former greats George Brett, John Mayberry, Jeff Montgomery, Joe Randa and Frank White.

The caravan gives fans young and old the opportunity to shake hands with a major league ballplayer, get an autograph, and ask a few questions about the Royals.

“The Royals are my favorite team, so I wanted to come see them,” said 10-year-old Michael Ruhlman of Springfield. “I hope they do better this year than they usually do, maybe make it to the World Series.”

A World Series would appear out of reach in 2011 for the accumulation of young, unproven players the Royals will field this season. But Butler and Ka’aihue weren’t telling fans to give up on this season just yet.

“Our expectation is to win and win now,” Butler said when asked if the players see 2011 as a rebuilding season. “If we thought any other way, we wouldn’t be doing ourselves any good. People don’t expect a lot out of us. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to pack it up and go home. We’ve still got a season to play. Everyone is 0 and 0.”

Butler embarked on the Royals Caravan while the ink was still drying on a 4-year extension to his contract which could earn him as much as $30 million. That signing comes on the heels of the trade of Zack Greinke, who wasn’t up for waiting out the process. Without criticizing his former teammate specifically, Butler insisted that he is committed to helping the Royals build.

“I can’t speak for Zack, but obviously at one point he wanted to stay here,” Butler said, referring to the contact Greinke signed with KC two years ago. “But for me, I don’t imagine myself playing anywhere else. And I’m saying that after four years of not being very competitive and losing a lot of games.

“I realize what the organization has done for me. And I’d rather play my whole career trying to build one winner than to go somewhere else where it’s already been built. I’ve put too many years of hard work in to leave what we’re trying to do here.”

Ka’aihue didn’t agree with Greinke’s assessment that the Royals are in for several more bitterly unsuccessful seasons.

“That’s just Zach’s opinion and that doesn’t affect the rest of us. We’re moving forward,” the big Hawaiian said, reassuring fans that this team can compete with the new pieces now in place. “I’m not expecting to fail. I’m going in with the mindset to win and win right away. It might sound crazy or like on paper it can’t be done, but there’s enough talent on this team that we could make a push. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t.”

Perhaps Greinke was too busy analyzing the timetable for developing the talent that has made the Royals’ farm system the best in baseball. Butler said players don’t need to think about the process, but rather to focus on winning games today.

“Players don’t need to put too much into whether this is a rebuilding process. That’s not their job, to say if we’re in a rebuilding process. If they don’t want this to be a rebuilding process, then go out there and play better. Go out there and win ballgames. That’s Dayton (Moore)’s job. I believe in Dayton and everything we’re doing here.”

What Butler believes Moore is doing is assembling the kind of depth in the farm system that could make the Royals a contender in just a few years.

“I feel like I am part of a long-term process,” Butler said. “We’ve got a lot of really good prospects that are on the brink and we made some good trades, and we’re just building for the future. And it’s going to start this year.

“We have the number one minor league organization for a reason. There’s a lot of guys that are expected to do a lot of great things. And that means very soon here we’re going to be contending on a regular basis.”

When Butler arrives at spring training, he’ll have to introduce himself to a host of new players after the Greinke trade and several other moves changed the roster drastically. Most significantly, Moore added Alcides Escobar to play shortstop, three new outfielders, and Jeff Francis and Vin Mazarro to the pitching rotation.

“What we had before didn’t work, so we had to change, and we changed pretty much every part of it,” Butler said. “That’s nothing against the guys we had before, but we just didn’t have the right mix.

“Now we have a lot of young talent, and it’s all about how we translate the talent onto the field. The bottom line is that we have the talent to do it. Now we just have to go out there and do it.”

The Royals will enjoy having manager Ned Yost from day one this year. Yost joined the team on May 13 after Trey Hillman stumbled to a 12-23 start to last season.

“Ned’s definitely very detailed and very prepared at what he does,” said Butler. “I know when we get done with spring training with him we’re going to be prepared for everything the opponent is going to try to do to us.”

“What we experienced during the season was a calmness about him, but an expectation to win,” Ka’aihue added in regards to Yost. “He seems like a players’ manager, and he gives us a relaxed feeling in the clubhouse.”

Butler and Ka’aihue weren’t interested in arm wrestling for the first base position, as was suggested on the caravan. They both look forward to playing as much in the field as possible, but are willing to bat in the DH spot when necessary.

“Of course I want to play 162 games at first base, but when you’re looking at the long haul of a whole career, it may be smart to split some time at DH,” Butler said. “I played 125 games at first last year, and it probably made me a lot healthier at the end of the season.”

Butler recently received the Les Milgram Award as the Kansas City player of the year after he batted a career high .318 with 15 homers and 78 RBIs. He is the closest thing the team has to a hitting star, with 590 career hits at the young age of 24.

Ka’aihue has yet to post significant numbers at the big league level, but he did start to get his wits about him by the end of 2010. He batted .274 with 6 homers and 18 RBIs in September.

“It’s exciting to have that little bit of success to build on and hopefully I can carry that into this year.” Ka’aihue didn’t think his approach to spring training would change this time around, however. “I’ve gone in every year hoping to win a job, and it doesn’t feel much different this time. I am expecting to play everyday and I’m going to prepare that way.”

While neither man is writing off 2011, they are not oblivious to the hope the franchise has placed in the farm system that is regarded as the best in baseball.

“It’s an exciting time, you know,” said Ka’aihue, who has played with some of the Royals’ top prospects in his minor league career. “A lot of the guys who came up together are finally going to be in the big leagues together. We all pulled for each other in the minor leagues and to do it together, it will be a great accomplishment.”

Butler relishes the help he could have in the batting order.

“We have Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas very close to the big leagues who are supposed to hit in the middle of the lineup, and what better than to see those guys hitting around me. It sounds real fun.”

Making the transition isn’t easy or smooth, according to both first basemen who were top prospects at one time themselves.

“It’s a different game up here,” said Butler. “There’s a transition process. But when you got guys around you who want to see you do good, and you’ve got the talent, that transition can be a lot shorter rather than longer. You’ve got to come up here and play the game like you always have, not putting too much pressure on yourself.”
Help from the minor leagues may be a ways away. But in January, the fans can be as optimistic as the players representing the team on the caravan. Getting an autograph and a chance to talk to a major leaguer, even if his team is expected to wallow through another rebuilding year, is worth waiting in line in freezing temperatures.

“I love it,” said Brooks Beattie, a 10-year-old from Nixa about getting to meet major league baseball players. “I heard about it and I said ‘I want to come.’ It’s exciting.”

My son is 10. He’s just getting to the age that he knows anything about sports, and, frankly, he doesn’t care.

We have gone to several Royals games together. I have taken him to meet Zack Grienke and Billy Butler on the Royals Caravan. But as much as I try to make those things matter to him, they don’t matter as much as Legos or Mario Brothers.

I’m 40. I grew up idolizing Willie Wilson, Frank White, Dennis Leonard and other Royals of the late 70s and early 80s.

If I’m going to raise (read “brainwash”) my children into being Royals fans, and since the Royals have given us so little to be excited about, I felt it might be necessary to let the kids know that the Royals have a history to be proud of. So I decided recently that it was important for my son to know about the greatest Royal of all, the only Royal to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame – George Brett.

But then I realized something. Something that made my insides ache. Something that made my heart hurt. George Brett has been retired for not just 10 years. Not just 15 years. George Brett has been retired 17 years. That’s 7 years longer than my son has been alive.

When I started to do some quick calculations, I realized that George Brett is to my son what Ted Williams is to me. I was born at the end of 1969. Ted Williams played his last season in 1960. By the time I was old enough to know anything about baseball history, Ted Williams seemed to me like a dinosaur. Grainy videos and black and white photos.

Thoughts flooded my mind. Has it really been 17 years since George Brett graced the K? Has it been more than half of my lifetime that the Royals have been shut out of the playoffs? Have we Royals fans just been clinging to the smoldering embers of a few good years that occurred before the franchise was even half its current age?

Could I really be old enough to be father to a 10 year old? Am I really closer to retirement than to the Royals’ only championship?

Watching the memories of the great Royals fade in the rearview mirror is like calculating how quickly life is passing.

The story of the Royals is sad not so much because no one under 30 considers them a quality franchise, but because those of us over 40 are clutching those memories like a memento from a past friendship or a deceased relative.

Overly dramatic? Maybe so. But for my childrens’ sake, I keep believing that the Royals will yet field a team that is significant, competitive, worth sharing as a family. I remember how much fun that was. I want for my family to have now what we had back then.

It is a great pleasure to be a new writer for I70baseball.com, writing about the only baseball team that I truly care about. But I don’t want to only write about the glory days that happened when I was a kid. I want my children and I to make new memories at Kauffman Stadium, watching truly good players in games that actually matter.

I didn’t tell my son about George Brett. I just couldn’t.