Ned Yost media session: August 5

Mike Moustakas’ off day today and the condition of his hurt knee was the first topic brought up this morning when manager Ned Yost met with media inside his office.  Yost said he has a bone bruise which is going to bother anyone and be painful.  He said it is not a major thing and it is a playable injury, but it is going to be sore for Moose for a couple of weeks or so.  He went on to say he has to pick his opportunities to give Moose some breaks to rest the knee, like today, but it is definitely something he can play through.  He said you do not want his knee to get to the point where he cannot play on it therefore the Royals are giving him a break today with a tough lefty going for Texas.  Yost went on to compliment the training staff and say they do a great job in treating his knee multiple times daily and it will help it a great deal to get him healthier. 

Jeff Francoeur is starting in right field today and his performance in Friday night’s game was the next topic brought up by the media.  Frenchy was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in that game.  Yost said he was impressed with the way he played Friday and Frenchy hit the ball very hard twice, but they made nice plays on him, otherwise he could have had two hits right there.  He said his approach was much better and he got himself into better hitting counts so he saw a lot of improvement in his game compared to the struggles he had been going through over the last few weeks.

The Royals are going with backup catcher Brayan Pena as the designated hitter today in order to give Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer a day off.  The media finished the session with Ned by asking of his opinion on having a catcher in the DH spot.  Yost said he does not like using a catcher there, but Gordon has not had a day off since the first week of the season and Hos has not had one in a while either.  He said it is hot in August and it is a good chance to give them a day off, therefore Pena was the only option to DH.  He went on to say you hope nothing happens to starting catcher Salvador Perez, but in the event it did they would put Pena behind the plate and finish it like a National League game, without a designated hitter.  He finished by saying the Royals will be just fine with Pena doing the DH work.