Kansas City Royals: The Royals Have a Logjam at First Base

Frank Schwindel

Frank Schwindel is arguably one of the most exciting players to watch for me. The soon-to-be 26-year-old was drafted out of St. John’s in 2013 in the 18th Round. Typically, the later you get in the rounds the least likely you are to see that player mature into someone the organization can use effectively. Schwindel is trying to be the outlier here.

Throughout his career, Schwindel has been relatively consistent offensively. Schwindel pushed his name into the limelight in 2017 after putting up very productive numbers between Double-A and Triple-A. He hit a staggering 66 extra-base hits, 43 being doubles and 23 being home runs while slashing a monstrous .329/.349/.541 and a .890 OPS over 133 games.

He then played in the Dominican League for 30 games where his offensive tear continued. There he hit .317/.351/.463 with three home runs and nine doubles.

The offensive numbers then rolled over into his production during Spring Training. During his 21 games, he hit .366/.381/.976 and logged a 1.357 OPS. He hit a team-leading seven home runs as well. From 2017 to the end of Spring Training, Schwindel hit .329/.350/.553 over 184 games.

Needless to say, the guy can be an offensive threat. Maybe more intriguing is during that time he only struck out 100 times over 184 games.

Something interesting to remember as well is the Royals have made zero indication that they are going to try him out at different positions. That leads me to believe that he might be a leading candidate to hold down the first base position in the near future. Dare I say as soon as July of 2018?