Kansas City Royals: Don’t count Adalberto Mondesi out yet

Besides the fact that Mondesi is doing something the vast majority of players didn’t do, his numbers are the easiest reason to say “maybe not”.

But when you look beyond the numbers, that’s not a fair assessment. In fact, when you look beyond the numbers you actually start to see the reason why he might have struggled the first two times.

Mondesi has currently accrued 0.121 years of service time. For some clarification, one year of

service time equals 172 days, even though a regular season is 183 days. Therefore, 0.172 years of service time is the same as one-year (1.000) of service time. Also, the only way you can gain a day of service time is to be on the 25-man roster. So, another 51 days and Mondesi will have one full year.

Back to the point. Over those 121 days that Mondesi has been on the big league roster, he has only played in 72 games. That alone is him playing just 60% of the time he’s been called up. That might have something to do with his bad numbers.

But let’s look closer.

Those 72 games and 121 days span a two year period. In 2016 he played in 47 games and was on the big league roster for 69 days. Which meant that 68% of the time he was up he was playing. In 2017 he played in 25 games and was on the big league roster for 52 days, which meant 48% of the time he was playing.

However, of those 72 games, Mondesi was a pinch-runner in six games and had only one at-bat in seven games. Meaning, in 13 games he played in he either never had an at-bat or just swung the bat once.

So instead of looking at it as “72 games played” where we think he was starting and finishing, we will call it 59 games in which he played and had more of a chance to find consistency at the plate. That bumps him down to playing just 49% of the time.

Then we look at the games where he had at least two plate appearances. Over those 72 games, he didn’t start and finish another nine games.

When looking at this, it is hard for me to say “we know what he can do”.

Over his career, Mondesi has been on the big league roster for 121 days and played in 72 games. But this is a prime example of how you need to look further into what the numbers mean, rather than taking them for face value.

When you look at what he has done with consistent playing time he looks significantly better. Granted it has only happened in Triple-A, but he is showing that he can be more than what his MLB playing time shows.

While at Omaha, he hit .297/.330/.525 with a .855 OPS and 42 extra-base hits over 89 games in 2017. He also had a wRC+ of 119 during that time. In 2018 he has hit .250/.295/.492 with a .786 OPS and 16 extra-base hits over 29 games. His wRC+ is 97, which is just below league average.

His low numbers this year can probably be attributed to the fact that he’s hit .231/.298/.423 with

a .721 OPS over his last 13 games. If he wants the be called up, he has to play better than this. However, of the 12 hits, six are extra-base hits. So he is showing some power during his slump.

I’ll leave you with this little bit.

I don’t know many people who can get comfortable with their job when they are doing it as consistently. Especially when you’re going against some of the best athletes of the game. We have seen what consistent at-bats can do for a player. Just look at Hunter Dozier, Jorge Bonifacio, and Jorge Soler.

Here is a quote from Dayton Moore back in 2016 during FanFest about Mondesi.

I’m not saying (Raul) Mondesi can be our Lindor, or our Correa in some aspect in 2016, but he’s certainly talented enough. He does have five tools. He does have to be more consistent offensively. At times, I think he gets a little bored with the level (he’s at). His mind is very advanced as a baseball player. His athleticism is very advanced for his age. He’s got a great heart to play, but sometimes you’d like to see him a little more enthusiastic. He grew up in a big league clubhouse. He’s not in awe of anything. He will shine in the Major Leagues. He will play better in the Major Leagues than he did in the Minor Leagues. Similar to what you saw from Lindor. Raul Mondesi has star quality.

I understand that is from 2016…

But this is also him talking about a 19-year-old at the time. We have established that his 72 games don’t portray what he has done accurately because he hasn’t had the chance to show what he can do with consistency. And as Moore said, Francisco Lindor hit .284/.350/.402 in Triple-A before being called up in 2015.

When Lindor was first called up, he played every day from start to finish and hit .211/.258/.281 over 15 games. But, just like everyone starting a new job, you figure it out the more time you’re consistently there. From that month on Lindor hit .327/.366/.512 while playing nearly every day.

With a player that has the abilities Moore explained, the Royals did him a disservice playing him as sporadically as they did. The fact that he played less than 50% of the time, and if you factor in the number of games he started and finished he consistently played in just 69% of games and 41% of the days he was called up.

Next: Bonifacio's Return

If the Royals really want to know what Mondesi can do, they need to play him every day for a full game. I understand protecting his service time to keep him under the thumb of the Royals longer. However, I personally would rather see now if he truly can be that type of player Moore suggested back in 2016, rather than wait and hope he’s that kind of player.

What do you think Royals fans? Have the Royals given Mondesi a fair shake? Should we finally see what Mondesi can do? Is holding him in Omaha helping him? Let us know below!