Kansas City Royals: Five Biggest Surprises in 2017

The Kansas City Royals have suffered through an overall disappointing season. However, there have been some pleasant surprises. Let’s focus on them as the team’s playoff hopes continue to fade.

The 2017 season has seen more bad than good for the Kansas City Royals. We already took a look at the most disappointing players this year. Now, it’s time to focus on the positives. Thus, we reveal our biggest surprises of the season.

This is not a list of the best Kansas City Royals players. That would be a fairly simple task. So don’t expect to see guys like Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain or Salvador Perez on this list. Even if they have exceeded expectations, particularly Hosmer’s MVP-type season, those players haven’t been legitimate surprises.

Frankly, it would have been difficult to come up with five players who truly exceeded expectations.

You’ll also notice that the headline doesn’t say most surprising players. This list is not limited to individual players. Frankly, it would have been difficult to come up with five players who truly exceeded expectations. If that doesn’t tell the story of the Kansas City Royals season, then I don’t know what does.

Some of the surprises are players who came out of nowhere to become major contributors. A few of them weren’t even on the Opening Day roster. Others are stunning statistical marks set this year. But all of these are players or things that no one saw coming when the season opened in April.

So let’s take a closer look at the biggest surprises of the Kansas City Royals season.