Kansas City Royals: Give Raul Mondesi Some Playing Time

The Kansas City Royals called up Raul Mondesi from Triple-A last week to sit on the bench, rather than to ensure he got at-bats in Omaha. Is this the right decision for the Royals—for now and the future?

To be clear, I am not claiming that the Kansas City Royals should bench Alcides Escobar but rather give playing time to Raul Mondesi.

How do they compare?

Escobar, in the last 10 games, has been hitting .207 and is not doing well. For the season, the veteran shortstop is batting .238 with four home runs, including one on Monday, and 42 RBI.

Kansas City Royals

Playing Mondesi would not necessarily be an improvement, but it would not be much worse. In Triple-A, he has hit .305, which is stretched out over most of the season.

Both on offense and defense, neither player is better or worse than the other.

Mondesi started his season at second base in the majors, and it did not go so well. He hit just .095 before being sent down, but after spending most of the season in Triple-A, he will hopefully do better.

He went 1 for 2 in the 17-0 blowout loss on Saturday in Minnesota.

However, Mondesi did not start the game, and it is his only action since being called back up on Sept. 1 along with four other players.

Why should they start Mondesi?

Simply put, Mondesi is the future for the Kansas City Royals at shortstop.

The Royals need to evaluate him at the Major League-level and make sure they know he is ready to make the next step. Mondesi needs to be playing every few days. He has a higher ceiling and has the potential to give the Royals more than Escobar can.

With Omaha’s season having ended on Monday, Mondesi won’t be going anywhere the rest of the season. He deserves a chance to show that he’s improved since the decision to start him at second over Whit Merrifield to begin the season backfired.

And it shouldn’t take the Kansas City Royals falling out of contention to do so.

What about the streak?

Escobar’s streak of consecutive games started is impressive, but I believe the Kansas City Royals are sacrificing some things to keep it going. He has started a club-record 307 games through Monday and even set the record for number of consecutive games played this past weekend.

They could figure out if Mondesi is ready for the Major League-level. If he is, the Royals would have no need to sign Escobar and can start Mondesi full-time next year. If he is not, you have the option of re-signing Escobar for cheap.

Mondesi playing is not going to make or break the Kansas City Royals’ playoff chances. But it could give the Royals a view of the what the future holds.

Next: Royals Still in Wild Card Race

What do you think? Should the Royals give Mondesi some playing time or is that streak important? Let us know in the comments.