Royals Mid-Season Grade Cards and Review
We are just past the halfway point in the MLB season and have seen an up-and-down season for the Royals.
Despite some recent struggles the team had a good first half of the season, far exceeding national expectations. There has been a surge of young star-power in the Royals' young core that has led to the team being in an exciting position for not just this year but years to come. With half the year in the books, let's take a look at some position groups for the Royals and hand out grades.
Infield
The infield has been a massive area of improvement for the Royals since their last season campaign, boasting four stars that are playing at a high level this season. The emergence of names like Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino have been huge surprise additions to the much more predictable explosive campaign of Bobby Witt Jr. The young core's explosion has created one of the youngest and most exciting infields in baseball. That's all without mentioning Salvador Perez, who has reignited a fire this season, in what has been one of the best years of his career.
Kansas City has struggled to find stability at second base, but the Royals will have options as Michael Massey returns from injury. The Royals have also called up third base prospect CJ Alexander, moving Garcia to second base when Alexander plays. The Royals have multiple choices in alignment due to the versatility of the players. Perez has the ability to play first base or catcher, Garcia can play third or second base, and those are just a couple examples. The Royals infield has been fantastic through this point in the season and will have all the time in the world to improve even more.
Grade: A-
Best Player: Bobby Witt Jr - The young shortstop has been one of the best players on not just the Royals but in the entire league. His development can be largely attributed to the Royals success.
Surprise Player: Salvador Perez - While it's not surprising that the catcher has put together an elite season, what is surprising is his ability to do it in year 14. Perez has shown he can be elite and versatile regardless of age.
Outfield
Kansas City has highlighted two positions that they are looking to target before the trade deadline, and the outfield was one of them. It's not that the Royals outfield has been bad, instead that the Royals are in a position to be competitive in what has been arguably the best division in baseball this year. That means that Kansas City can not settle for players that are not positively contributing in a noticeable fashion. There are solid players that can continue to play important roles for the Royals even if it is not playing in the outfield on a day-to-day basis. Dairon Blanco provides blazing speed off the bench, Hunter Renfroe has shown to be a viable bat for the Royals, and MJ Melendez has started to heat up at the plate as of recent, the Royals have talent.
The biggest reason that the Royals are looking to bring in new faces at the position is based on consistency. It has shown even of the course of just half this season that the Royals have consistency issues in the outfield. Kyle Isbel has shown to be the most consistent of the group, fielding at a high level and coming through with timely hits on occasion. The issue is that players like MJ Melendez, Nelson Velazquez, Dairon Blanco, Garrett Hampson, and Hunter Renfroe is the lack of consistent positive contributions on a nightly basis. All of the players listed have their moments and possess immense talent, but if you want to fight to be a championship team you need high-level contributors at almost every position.
Grade: C
Best Player: Kyle Isbel - While Isbel has not been an elite outfielder this season, he has provided most of the limited stability the Royals have in the outfield.
Surprise Player: Nelson Velazquez - Velazquez is a surprise player for a different reason. The roller coaster of a season started with a high climb for the power-hitting outfielder before taking a free-fall and ending up in the minor leagues. It is surprising how suddenly season trends can change.
Starting Pitching
The Royals have had one of the best rotations in the entire league, combining depth and domination to create an immense amount of success. Kansas City has multiple pitchers that can go out and shut teams down on a nightly basis, with the likes of Ragans and Singer. They also have sneaky back-end talent with Alec Marsh and Michael Wacha. There is not a single pitcher in Kansas City's starting rotation that should be avoided in big games or big moments. Their pitchers have had amazing moments and proven able. Nobody more than Seth Lugo.
Lugo signed to the Royals last offseason, bolstering a talented but underperforming Royals lineup of last year. Lugo was very obviously talented and that was clear from his time with the Padres and others. What was unexpected was that Lugo would become the first pitcher with 11 wins in the American League while holding the best ERA in the entire MLB at 2.17. Not only has Lugo been dominant when he plays, but he has also eaten up the most innings in the entire league. Lugo is one of the frontrunners for the Cy Young award and rightfully so, he has been one of the most dominant pitchers the Royals have seen since Zack Grienke.
Grade: A-
Best Player: Seth Lugo - You read the last paragraph.
Surprise Player: Seth Lugo - As much as you could choose Ragans or Marsh or really any of these guys, Seth Lugo has exceeded expectations maybe more than anybody else in baseball. He has arguably been the best pitcher in the league for only 15 million dollars a year.
Relief Pitching
I previously mentioned that the outfield is one of two areas that the Royals are hoping to target by the trade deadline, the other one was relief pitching. The Royals have tried a plethora of combinations to address the lack of consistency and results from the bullpen, and it has still yet to work to a high degree of success. Many of the issues that plague the outfield find their way to the bullpen, a lack of consistency creating a carousel of players with no true momentum being built over the season.
Kansas City has guys like Angel Zerpa or James McArthur that have gained some consistency over the season as relievers, but even they have faced many early season struggles. It doesn't seem to be consistently one player, instead that one guy falls apart late in the game, giving away leads that were built by the starters and offense. There are games that the bullpen looks talented and like something could be salvaged from what is currently had, but the hard truth learned over the last couple months is that the Royals need something new. Whether that be through trade, the farm system, or free agency are all options, but the Royals need to capitalize on at least one.
Grade: D+
Best Player: Angel Zerpa - It feels wrong to give a reliever that has given up runs in two of his last three appearances, but the truth is that the options are slim. Zerpa has shown by a slim margin that he can be the most consistent at times.
Surprise Player: Carlos Hernandez - Hernandez hasn't been with the Royals long, but in the short amount of time that he has he's shown consistency. He has only allowed a single run in his last six innings.
Austin is a sports journalist from Kansas City, Mo. He is a freshman at The University of Missouri-Columbia, pursuing a degree in sports journalism.