KC Royals: Orlando, Merrifield Making Most Of Time In KC

Paulo Orlando’s Minor League Career

Orlando was just 20 years old when he began his minor league career with the Chicago White Sox in 2006. He played in more than 100 games in each of his first four years, batting consistently around .260. Even then his speed was on display with 36 triples in 1,443 at bats in three of his first four seasons.

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Orlando was a good day-to-day minor leaguer with a .275 combined average since that 2006 start, but he was never exceptional for either the KC Royals or the White Sox. He batted .305 and hit 13 home runs for AA Northwest Arkansas in 2010, and .301 for AAA Omaha in 2015 before his call-up.

He’s made the most of his time with the Kansas City Royals big club. Through Tuesday, he was fourth on the KC Royals with a .323 batting average, and eighth on the team with a .758 OPS (four of the players ahead of him have significantly fewer at-bats).

2015 proved to be insubstantial average-wise—Orlando hit a meager .249 — but he finished tied for second on the team with six triples. He and Jarrod Dyson had impressive triple-to-hit ratios.

Next: Whit Merrifield