Kansas City Royals Countdown: Top 10 Outfielders

The Kansas City Royals have had some outstanding outfielders over the years. Here’s a countdown of the top 10 in franchise history. Some of these will definitely surprise you; others surely won’t.

The Kansas City Royals franchise has seen its ups and downs since sprouting up in the Midwest in 1969. Over the past 49 seasons, the Royals have won two World Series titles (1985 and 2015) with an additional two appearances (1980 and 2014).

One of the similarities between the recent success and that of the late-1970s and early-to-mid-1980s has been great outfielders. Looking back over the top 10 outfielders in Kansas City Royals history, you will find five World Series rings.

Looking back over the top 10 outfielders in Kansas City Royals history, you will find five World Series rings.

It’s a testament to management knowing one of the keys to winning at Kauffman Stadium (or then-Royals Stadium) is being able to cover a lot of ground in the outfield. Many members of our top-10 list are known as much for their speed and defensive abilities as they are any offensive prowess.

We compiled our list based on Baseball Reference’s WAR statistic. Only the wins above replacement accumulated during a player’s time in Kansas City has been included. Now, that obviously can skew things towards players who spent more of their time with the Royals. But that’s the trade-off for having an unbiased selection process.

We’ll begin our look at the top Kansas City Royals outfielders of all-time with some who—for one reason or another—just missed the cut.