Kansas City Royals: Mike Moustakas and the Curse of Steve Balboni

Since Sept. 1, Mike Moustakas has been tied for the Kansas City Royals single-season home run mark. Why has Moose been unable to set the record he currently holds with Steve Balboni?

It’s seemed like a foregone conclusion for much of the season. The Kansas City Royals were finally going to have a new home run king.

After an embarrassingly long time, Mike Moustakas was finally going to break the single-season franchise mark for home runs. Steve Balboni had held the record of 36 since 1985, meaning the mark of long-ball futility has stretched longer than the World Series drought.

Fittingly, one of the members of the team that snapped the 30-year world championship drought had brought enough rain to threaten the home run record in August.

Given the astronomical increase in home runs since the mid-1980s, it’s amazing that the record has stood for this long. It’s even more amazing that Moustakas is the only player to have seriously challenged the mark in the past 22 years. Aside from Moustakas, only Jermaine Dye (33 in 2000) and Kendrys Morales (30 in 2016) have even reached the 30-homer mark this millennium.

However, Moustakas has only been able to match the mark. It’s now past the midway point in September, and the record still hasn’t been broken.

That means it’s time to wonder whether or not he will break it over the Kansas City Royals’ final 13 games of the season. It’s also the time to explore the reasons the Moose has only been loose once since Aug. 15.

Injury and Fatigue

The primary reason for Moustakas’ recent struggles in the home run department likely comes down to his health.

Coming off a devastating knee injury in 2016, Moustakas was always likely to fatigue more down the stretch than his teammates. His participation in the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game kept him from getting what could have been vital rest over the All-Star break.

Even still, Moustakas increased his home run total from 25 at the break to 30 by the end of July. The third baseman added another five homers in the first half of August. The last of those came on Aug. 15 at Oakland.

Moustakas did not hit another home run in August. A knee injury that appeared to be sustained on Aug. 26 in Cleveland seemed to slow him down considerably for the final few days of the month. However, Moustakas went deep in a key series-opener with Minnesota on Sept. 1. That blast tied him with Balboni for the single-season mark.

He hasn’t gone deep since.

The knee has still clearly been bothering Moustakas in September. He has sat out a couple of games to try to rest it. He’s also been replaced early on five different occasions—although those had more to do with blowouts than anything else.

It’s worth wondering, if Moustakas had already set the record—say he hit a second homer in that Sept. 1 game—would manager Ned Yost have given him more rest the past few weeks. In turn, that additional rest might have allowed the knee to fully heal and have Moustakas as close to 100 percent as possible for the Kansas City Royals’ stretch run.

Regardless, the lack of home runs can also be partially attributed to at least one other reason.

Trying Too Hard

It might seem ridiculous to suggest a player who has featured in two World Series could succumb to the pressure of a home run record. But when a player has been on the cusp of a record this long, it’s human nature to have that in the back of your mind.

Kansas City Royals

Every single time he comes to the plate, Moustakas knows this could be the plate appearance he breaks the record. It’s a different kind of pressure than just batting in the postseason, where any kind of hit will benefit the team.

The home run-or-bust approach that has engulfed the league has also creeped into the Kansas City Royals this season—much more than in those playoff seasons of 2014 and 2015.

The problem with Moustakas’ drought is that it has encompassed his entire offensive game. He does not have a single run driven in since his home run on Sept. 1. He also had just two RBI between his 35th and 36th home runs. Since Aug. 12, Moustakas has a total of six RBI—half of which came on the homer in Minnesota.

He hasn’t been hitting for much power lately either. Just two of Moustakas’ 10 hits since homer No. 36 have gone for extra bases. Dating back to Aug. 16, he has five doubles and one home run out of his 19 hits. In that same time frame, his batting average has fallen from .284 to .271 and his slugging percentage has plummeted from .566 to .522.

That’s a sign of more than just injuries or fatigue. There’s a definite mental component to his struggles over the past month.