Expectations have been sky-high for Brady Singer since the Royals drafted him in 2018. Drafted 18th overall, Singer rose through the minors quickly – he was the first pitcher from his draft class to get called up to the majors – but struggled at times through 2020 and 2021. After returning from a stint in Triple-A Omaha earlier this year, Singer's looked like one of the best pitchers in baseball over the last month or so. His latest performance, a six-inning scoreless outing against a Dodgers team that had won 11 straight games, had plenty of people around baseball wondering if Singer's finally put it all together. Speaking with 610's Cody and Gold on Tuesday, Royals GM JJ Picollo talked about what he's seen from Singer this year.
"He's been outstanding," he said. "From the time that he was called up, he started to gain confidence and grow with his confidence. His fastball right now, just the movement on his fastball and the way he's able to front-door that fastball to left-handed hitters, you see guys just shake their head. They go right back to the dugout and they look at the replay and they're amazed that, yeah, that was a strike, even though it certainly appears to be a ball. You know, he's done it to some really good hitters. Whether it's the Yankees' lineup, the Dodgers' lineup, you're seeing the same type of reactions. His slider's always been devastating. The changeup he hasn't used as much here recently, but it's because his fastball has been so good. He's been pinpoint with his command. It's been a really great thing to see.
"He's sort of taking that lead role for us right now, which every good team needs. I'm happy that someone stepped up, because they've all been given opportunities. But he seems to be the one that's taken it by the horns and saying, 'Let's go, I'm going to show you guys that I can lead this pitching staff.'"
You can listen to Picollo's entire interview in the embedded player below: