Blue Rocks' Singer hits all the right notes

Brady Singer seems to be finding his rhythm on the mound.
The top Royals prospect threw a career-high seven scoreless frames, allowing five hits and a walk with six strikeouts in Class A Advanced Wilmington's 2-1, 10-inning win over Salem on Tuesday night at Haley Toyota Field.

Singer hasn't allowed an earned run in his last 15 frames. He leads the Carolina League with a 2.13 ERA and has 49 strikeouts against 11 walks over 50 2/3 innings.
"The first thing is command," Singer said. "I feel like I can throw the fastball on both sides of the plate when I want to. The slider was obviously down in the zone when I need it, but I think the biggest thing, I think, is the changeup."
Gameday box score
Singer said he didn't throw the pitch much in college but knew he needed to use it more in the pros.
"I knew when I got to pro ball that a two-pitch mix with sometimes a changeup isn't going to work," he said. "There's obviously a lot of guys in pro ball that have good changeups, so bouncing ideas off teammates and coaches here to get the right grip with conviction and have a lot of confidence in it."
Singer said he isn't 100 percent comfortable with the pitch, but he's getting better with it.
"Just throwing it with the right grip, with the right conviction and everything else and obviously getting my hand on top of it and trying to throw it low in the zone every time," he said. "It obviously puts a third pitch in the hitters' heads, and I've had some really good success with it."
The right-hander said that another key to his success this season is improved focus and concentration on every pitch.
"Not saying that I didn't focus in college," Singer said, "but there were some times where you know you didn't have your best mental approach that day and you could get away with it. In pro ball, these guys are here for a reason."
MLB.com's No. 50 overall prospect got a lot of help from his defense against the Red Sox, with double plays turned in the second, third and fifth.
"Obviously, the guys up the middle were tremendous all night," he said.
In the sixth, catcher MJ Melendez -- the Royals' No. 3 prospect -- got the 22-year-old out of a jam by throwing out Nick Sciortino trying to steal second base and picking off Ryan Fitzgerald at first to end the inning. 
"MJ's always good for those back picks," Singer said.
Singer fanned a career-high 10 in his previous start and added six strikeouts Tuesday, including back-to-back punchouts to end the seventh. He threw 62 of 91 pitches for strikes. 

The 18th overall pick in last year's Draft was expected to pitch in the Rookie-level Arizona League last summer, but Kansas City kept him off the mound as a precaution following a hamstring injury and because he'd thrown 113 innings during his junior season at the University of Florida.
Singer said there haven't been any discussions with the organization about an innings limit even as he's passed 50 through nine starts.
"I'm gonna throw my best and compete like crazy until they tell me to stop," he said.
Melendez's RBI groundout in the fourth marked the game's only scoring until the ninth, when No. 26 Red Sox prospectPedro Castellanos singled home Deiner Lopez. The Blue Rocks went on top for good in the 10th on Ricky Aracena's RBI single.