Comments on: Walks? He Don’t Need No Stinking Walks

By: You Can Only Have So Many First Basemen…Unfortunately « Kings of Kauffman | A Kansas City Royals Blog

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:12:12 +0000

[...] was made of at the beginning of the season before being passed along for the up and coming Hosmer. He’s trying to change his approach at the plate and get a shot playing for somebody this seaso… I’m not very good at trying to come up with potential trade packages for players so I’m [...]

By: Michael Engel

Michael Engel — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 01:03:22 +0000

Yeah, I was very bullish on Kila coming into this season. I thought his finish to 2010 showed that he was figuring it out and that patience/power combo can be wicked. His days in KC are pretty much over though, because no, he’s never going to unseat Butler or Hosmer. They’ll go with Clint Robinson long-term before Kila and even that’s unlikely because, like you said, there are so many 1B/DH types in the way.

By: jim fetterolf

jim fetterolf — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:58:16 +0000

Kila’s big problem with the organization is numbers with a log jam at 1B/DH, so not sure anything short of putting up Hosmer numbers combined with a 20% improvement in speed and a major improvement with the glove can separate him from a pack including Hos, Billy, Robinson, and probably Moose down the road as his body and defense are starting to look DH-y. I checked his stats over at pine tar press and patience does seem a hallmark of his approach, walking about 20% of the time and striking out even a little more, kind of like Matt Treanor, who only puts the ball in play about 60% of the time. That can work for Dyson or Cain, but not so well for a power hitter and, while Kila is performing well at Omaha, Aviles got sent down and is lighting up the league, raking with power, 9 hr in 20 games compared to Kila’s 6 in 47 games. Aviles is forcing a recall, Kila is killing time until he is thrown in as part of a trade. Too bad, I was hoping for him, but that is the Royals’ curse of finally having some depth and competition for slots.