KC Royals Fantasy: Healthy Omar Infante Provides 2B Boost

KC Royals second baseman Omar Infante suffered through two terrible seasons due to bone chips in his right elbow. Now healthy after offseason surgery, Infante has bounced back at the plate.

Kansas City Royals officals expected the now 34-year-old Omar Infante to stabilize the second base position after signing him to a four-year, $32 million deal in 2014. Instead, he sputtered to a .632 OPS season in 2014, and an even worse .552 OPS in 2015.

In fact, Inftane was so bad that KC Royals manager Ned Yost benched him in September in favor of rental Ben Zobrist. Infante became pretty much a useless spare part during the Kansas City Royals post-season run to the 2016 title.

When the Kansas City Royals lost Zobrist to the Chicago Cubs this winter, Omar Infante regained his second base job almost by default. With Christian Colon unable to seize control over second base in spring training, Infante won the nod at second as much for the hope of recapturing value on his deal as for his expected performance.

Yet, in one of the more interesting early season developments, Omar Infante is looking much like his pre-injury self at the plate through 30 at bats in 2016.

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Yes, I know all about the short sample size. Really, you can’t tell much from statistical analysis at this early point in the season. Right now, Colorado rookie shortstop Trevor Story looks like a superstar and four-time All-Star catcher Russell Martin looks like a complete bum. At this point, looking at player stats is like gazing into a fun-house mirror. You can’t trust anything you see.

With all of that said, Omar Infante looks healthy at the plate. Forget so much about results (.310/.300/.414, with three doubles and two RBIs). Instead, Infante appears much more comfortable in the batter’s box. If he can come anywhere close to maintaining his current 101 OPS + (adjusted on base plus slugging), Infante will be a useful player for a fantasy roster that needs second base help.

More importantly, Infante feels healthy. He told Kansas City Star Royals beat writer Rustin Todd April 9:

“I can play 100 percent,” Infante said. “Before, I couldn’t play 100 percent. I had a lot of problems with my elbow and my shoulder the year before. Now it’s much better.”

Omar Infante is currently owned in only 2.3% of ESPN fantasy baseball leagues. Thus, you should be able to grab him for a cheap waiver claim if you have a black hole at the position. While I wouldn’t expect great production, he could help out in a deep league if you’ve shorted second base and need a fill-in.

Next: KC Royals Beat Houston 6-2, Still Best Team In MLB

Aside from the fantasy impact, Omar Infante’s early season health is good news for the 2016 KC Royals hopes of repeating as champions.