Kansas City Royals Focusing on Improving Power

The Kansas City Royals power outage is certainly not a secret. Not only did they hit an incredibly low 95 home runs last year, but they also finished with only 112 home runs in 2013, the lowest total in the American League. Instead, the Royals rely upon their ability to make contact and speed to generate runs, much to the dismay of the rest of the American League’s catchers.

This season, the Royals may not be the reincarnation of the 1927 Bronx Bombers, but they may not be the same Royals team of the past couple of seasons either. This season, the Royals are focusing on hitting more home runs, even though they play in the largest ballpark in the majors in Kauffman Stadium.

The moves that the Royals made certainly speak to that mindset. The acquisitions of Kendrys Morales and Alex Rios, two players who have displayed solid power production, are indicative of the plan to have more of a power element. Instead of looking to string two or three hits together, the Royals may now actually be able to put runs on the board in one swing of the bat.

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Even without the acquisitions of Morales and Rios, there would have been the possibility of more power, just from the Royals own players. At some point, both Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas are expected to break out and be the power hitters the Royals envisioned them to be. Salvador Perez hit 17 home runs last year, and has steadily increased his total each season. Alex Gordon has two twenty home run seasons under his belt, and has averaged 19 homers over the past four years. Even standing pat, there was the potential that the Royals dormant power game could come to life.

Will these new found interest in power hitting be the difference for the Royals this season? They are still a contact and speed offense, and are likely to win the vast majority of their games based on their pitching and defense. However, having a truly legitimate power threat or two in the lineup would make the Royals a much different team to face.

The Kansas City Royals may not resemble the power hitting teams so prevalent in the game today, even with these acquisitions, but they should have that power element in 2015. Perhaps even a slight uptick in the power department will be enough to make the difference between this season and last year.

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