Royals: Anyone besides Whit Merrifield to bat .300 in 2020?

Is it possible that the Kansas City Royals could have multiple players bat .300 or higher during the 2020 season? Only time will really tell.

The 2020 season for the Kansas City Royals will definitely be an interesting time, and it will be a season that fans will want to watch. There are so many possible moves and changes that could come forward, it is almost difficult to keep track.

With new management and ownership taking over, there is no way to know if the Royals will change their approach to the free agency, or if they will continue to make their small-time, high-risk acquisitions. There is also a chance that some players will move around the field and explore positions, opening the door for other players to come in.

No matter what happens, the fact remains that the team must make some changes. One can only hope most of the changes come with the pitching staff. Whether this means acquiring some new pitching talent or moving current pitchers around to find where they work best, the team just needs to ensure they make some improvements.

One area where the team doesn’t have to focus on a lot of changes is in the offense. The offensive production of the team seems to be on track after the 2019 season. There are definitely some areas that could be improved, such as strikeouts, but overall the offense is right where one would expect it to be for a rebuilding team.

Luckily for the Royals, most of those in the lineup will be back and can hopefully continue their production. For this article, let’s take a look at a few Royals who may be able to bat .300 in 2020. Disclaimer: This list is not necessarily exhaustive, nor is it a prediction.

The players included in this list are players that, out of the 40 man roster, likely have as good a shot as anybody to hit the .300 mark. Fans can only hope that they all come true, as it would really help put those 100 loss seasons to rest.

The Kansas City Royals most likely candidate has hit over .300 in back to back season, and fans can only hope he does it again.

If there were any player for the Kansas City Royals that should be expected to be on this list, it’s Whit Merrifield. The all-star second baseman is a super-utility player who not only knows his way around the field but knows how to put the bat on a ball.

In 2019, Whit continued to solidify his place as a Royal’s favorite and all-around great player with another outstanding season. Merrifield slashed .302/.348/.463 over 162 games, with 206 hits, 41 doubles, 10 triples, and 16 home runs.

These are obviously not the offensive numbers that just anyone puts up. To back that up, Whit tied for the lead in the majors in triples and did lead the majors in hits. Merrifield also manages to put up these great numbers while going back and forth between positions throughout the entire year.

Merrifield makes any lineup better and having him as a leadoff hitter makes the Royals that much more dangerous. Whit is the only “obvious” candidate on the Royals to bat .300 in 2020. With his .302 batting average for 2019 and a .304 for 2018, Whit looks to be the model for consistency.

There is always a chance that he will decline a bit with 2020 being his age 31 season, but if there is any member of the Royals that fans should bet on, it’s Whit Merrifield.

Though he didn’t hit the .300 mark in 2019, the Kansas City Royals third baseman might find himself in the .300 club if he continues his offensive progress.

Hunter Dozier starts off the Kansas City Royals players that “might, might not” hit .300 next year. Dozier showed a lot of progress during the 2019 season and put in enough work to at least be mentioned in this list.

Dozier saw a breakout year in 2019 and really started to prove that he deserved to be in the lineup every day. For 2019, Dozier slashed .279/.348/.522 over 139 games, with 29 doubles, 10 triples, 26 home runs, and 84 RBIs. Those 10 triples he smashed tied for the lead in the majors, along with Merrifield as mentioned above.

Dozier’s downfall in 2019 was an injury that came in the middle of the season. He didn’t record a hit in March, but in April, Dozier hit for a .375 average and followed up in May with a .283. Then the injury-hit. Dozier wasn’t out for long, but it took a noticeable toll on him once he returned.

Dozier held his batting average above a .300 until June 26th when he saw it drop to .297. This was only a few games after returning from the injured list. Dozier saw his monthly ERAs continue to improve, hitting .284 in September, but it was too little too late, and the .300 had slipped out of reach.

While Dozier didn’t hit .300 in 2019, and he doesn’t have a lot in his history to say he has the ability, his performance in 2019 did show that if he continues to progress and work, he could eventually reach the marks that Merrifield is putting up, just with a bit more power.

In a season plagued with injuries, the Kansas City Royals shortstop might have faired much better at the plate if he could stay healthy.

Adalberto Mondesi might be a shot in the dark, planets must align kind of pick for this list, but his unlucky turn of events in 2019 might have caused him to have lower numbers at the plate than he should have had.

In 2019, Mondesi slashed .263/.291/.424 over 102 games with 20 doubles, 10 triples, 9 home runs, and 62 RBIs. The 10 triples tied with Dozier and Merrifield, as mentioned above, for the lead in the majors, which Mondesi managed to do in far fewer games than the others.

Mondesi ran into some unfortunate bad luck in 2019 that saw him out for a good portion of the season. To start the season, Mondesi was tearing up the plate, batting .333 in March, .282 in April, and .288 in May. For the first portion of the season, Mondesi floated around the .280-.290 batting average range.

Unfortunately, the injuries started in mid-June and didn’t stop the rest of the season. Though Mondesi got to see some playing time for a few short stints, he never really found his rhythm at the plate again.

Because of this, Mondesi makes the list in the, might have done it in 2019 if not for injury section (more so than Dozier at least). While Mondesi may have just continued to float around the .285 batting average range, all it would have taken was one good streak to send him over the edge.

While Mondesi, of course, is a bit of a dark horse candidate, he is full of potential and incredibly athletic. If he can continue to work, stay healthy, and cut down on the strikeouts, he might just pull off a .300 batting average in 2020.

Whether all of these players bat .300 or don’t in 2020, the team will still likely struggle to find themselves in the postseason just yet. Continued progress and growth among the entire offense, though, might just keep them out of the 100 loss club and put them back on the track to the postseason in the future.