Shields 'in sync' during his Royals spring debut
There was no rush to see James Shields in an exhibition game with spring training beginning earlier and elongated with the World Baseball Classic.
Shields made his debut Feb. 28 in the Royals' seventh game and it was a spotless and quick outing.
Shields threw 13 pitches in his only inning and retired the Padres in order with a fly ball, ground out and strikeout. Afterward he went to the bullpen and threw more pitches.
"It's good to be out there again and rockin' and rollin'," Shields said. "No breaking balls. I ended up throwing some cut fastballs, and obviously I was working my four-seam and my changeup as well.
"Everything was in sync. It's kind of amazing when you get a hitter in there. Things change a little bit, but everything went real well."
The Royals have lacked an ace to anchor the rotation since trading Zack Greinke after the 2010 season to the Brewers. Shields should fill that gap.
The Royals acquired Shields in a Dec. 9 seven-player blockbuster trade, but had to give up mega-prospect outfielder Wil Myers, the consensus 2012 Minor League Player of the Year.
"We've got a lot of good starting pitching around here," Shields said. "I think there's going to be a lot of anticipation every five days. So I'm excited about it."
Royals manager Ned Yost is excited to have Shields front his rotation.
"Shields was phenomenal," Yost said. "It's funny, there's just something about a guy that's your No. 1 guy -- he's just got that special aura, and it was definitely out there when he was on the mound. It was just really fun to see him out there."
