The Royals picked up 24-year old righty reliever Kanekoa Texeira on a waiver claim from the Mariners and it appears to have been a good move. Texeira has pitched in 13 games (0 starts) for the Royals so far and he is 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. He has had pinpoint control with the Royals so far as he has only walked 4 batters in 22 2/3 innings. Texeira has now pitched in 29 games (0 starts) overall for the Mariners & Royals this season and he was 1-1 with a 3.70 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. It looks like the Royals may have a steal in Texeira as he has a nice upside.

26-year old righty reliever Joakim Soria will be the Royals’ lone representative in the All-Star Game. This will be the second time Soria has been on the All-Star team in his career to date. He has pitched in 31 games (0 starts) for the Royals this season and he is 0-1 with 22 saves, a 2.56 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. Soria has shown pinpoint control so far this season walking only 8 batters while whiffing 38 in only 31 2/3 innings pitched. Soria is the best player on the Royals so he deserves this honor.

26-year old righty starting pitcher Luke Hochevar is off to a good start this season for the Royals. He has started 3 games for the Royals so far this season and he is 2-0 with a 2.89 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. Hochevar has pitched 18 2/3 innings this season and he has allowed 17 hits while whiffing 11 batters. Those are solid numbers but he has walked 9 batters and that will get him into trouble at some point if he doesn’t tighten his control a bit. He has not had much success until now for the Royals. He came into this season pitching in 51 games (48 starts) for the Royals in which he was 13-26 with a 5.88 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. The Royals really hope that Hochevar can keep up the good work.

Zack Greinke, Luke Hochevar and Brian Bannister all pitched good enough to win against the Tigers but none of them got a decision. They were 0-0 despite putting up a stunning 0.92 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP combined. These three guys only walked 2 hitters in 19 2/3 innings as they took a page out of the Minnesota Twins’ pitching strategy book. The results were really good and they hope it will continue with the “Big Three”.

27-year old righty reliever/starter Robinson Tejada always had the arm to succeed and now he’s starting to put it all together. Tejada has pitched in 32 games (3 starts) for the Royals this season and he is 3-1 with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. He has whiffed 74 batters while allowing only 34 hits in 58 1/3 innings showing how nasty his stuff can be. But he needs to tighten up his control a bit as he has walked 38 batters for the Royals. Tejada has really been nails since moving into the starting rotation. In his three starts with the Royals, Tejada is 2-0 with a 0.55 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP. If he finishes strongly Tejada could win a starting job for the 2010 rotation for the Royals.