Kansas City Royals: What the signing of Ryan Goins could mean

The Kansas City Royals have signed utility infielder Ryan Goins to a minor league contract. The veteran has primarily played second base and shortstop throughout his career. So with the Royals bringing in Goins, what does that mean with for some of the other players on the team?

Earlier this month Kings of Kauffman posted an article about Ryan Goins as a player. When looking at him as a player, there is very little to be excited about.

To give a quick recap, over his five years he is a career .228/.275/.335 hitter. He has just 20 homeruns, which is included in his 87 career extra-base hits, and six stolen bases. Of his total at-bats last year, he walked 6.8% of the time and struck out 20.9% of the time.

Two things that are in his favor is his ability to hit all over the park and his batting average on balls in play (BASIP). On average, 34.9% of batted balls went to left field, 35.7% went to center field, and 29.4% went to right field. Having the ability to spread the ball around is a great attribute of a hitter. His BASIP is .283 which means when he does puts the ball in play he normally does much better.

Defensively he is a pretty average defender. What most likely made him appealing to the Royals is his ability to play second base, shortstop, and third base. With an unknown identity for both shortstop and third base, Goins fits that mold.

But beyond the numbers of the Royals new infielder, what does this mean for the team?