All-time KC Royals starting lineup

If you were able to put together a starting lineup for all the KC Royals greats from 1-9, how would it look?  We tackle that question in this article.

Imagine you could combine the 50 plus years of KC Royals baseball and construct a lineup with all the potential players.  Our criteria is that you have to cover each position in the field and designated hitter.  The player also needed to play at least 400 games at that position while a member of the Kansas City franchise.

Some of the choices will be obvious.  Others will require making a tough decision as multiple players produced solid statistics at the same position.

We will not only look at the offensive output but consider their defensive prowess as well.  After all, if you are putting a lineup together to win a game the ability to keep the other team off base is important.

Many rankings are developed each year speculating the best at each position over time or best seasons produced regardless of where they played on the field.  That could be based on WAR, traditional batting statistics and usual some bias depending on what era you grew up in.  We want to put this lineup together as if we needed to win game 7 of the World Series.

One surprise in researching this article is the lack of true superstars at a couple of positions.  It could be due to a lack of team history compared to the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, or Cincinnati Reds for example. Also, the team looked for speedy, scrappy players during the years on the turf at then-Royals, now-Kauffman stadium.

Undoubtedly there will be tough decisions and arguments could be made for the inclusion of others.  Enjoy the trip down memory lane and the not-so distant past.

The top of the KC Royals batting lineup consists of players who haven’t graced Kauffman Stadium in Royal blue since 2007.

1. 

Leading off and playing center field will be former Rookie of the Year Carlos Beltran.  Not ideally where I would like to bat him but with the selection of players available he has the on-base percentage and speed I like at the top of the order.

During seven years in KC, Beltran’s OBP was .352 and he swiped 164 bases.  The 123 homers are a nice option to have to start the game with fireworks as well.  He mixed in limited amounts of left field, right field, and designated hitter, but Beltran’s primary place was in center.

He was error prone, committing nearly 40 errors in his time there but he also had a nice arm assisting on 61 outs. He did win three Gold Gloves in a row shortly after leaving the Royals during his stint with the New York Mets.

Despite finishing ninth in MVP voting in 2003 with the Royals, curiously Beltran was never selected as an All-Star representative while with Kansas City.  But with a WAR of 22.9 during his time with the franchise, he would be a great switch hitting weapon for the top of our lineup.

Beltran was briefly considered as a managerial candidate following Ned Yost‘s retirement.  Knowing now what played out, it turned out to be a wise move to not pull the trigger on that.

2.

Again, this will put him out-of-place where he typically batted but I believe the two-spot will be a great fit for Mike Sweeney.  The guy rarely struck out and collected a .369 OBP during his time in Kansas City.  He was not drafted until the 10th round in the 1991 Amateur Draft but he cemented his place in KC history with 13 years of hard-nosed ball.

Sweeney began his big league career as a catcher and then split his time between first base and designated hitter.  We will slide him into the DH role for this lineup.

His first full season was 1999 and he was fabulous with a .907 OPS while smacking 22 homers and 44 doubles.  He would ultimately deposit 197 balls over the fence while with the Royals and just missed hitting .300, finishing at .299.

Five of six season between 2000-2005 Sweeney was an All-Star and in 2001 he drove in a Royals single-season best 144 runs, surpassing Hal McRae by 11.  His highest OPS+ output was in 2002 when he produced career bests in batting average (.340) and slugging (.563).

He now serves as a Special Assistant-Baseball Operations, a role he has had since retiring from baseball.  He still brings his talent to many Royals players, including working with Ryan O’Hearn last year.

3.

This is the part where bias might play a role.  Not in the selection of the player but his position in the lineup.  Can you really see George Brett anywhere but third in the order though?  Plus it flows to follow-up a right-handed slugger with a left-handed one.

Brett is a KC Royals icon and we have discussed many of his accomplishments before.  Over 3,000 hits, 600 doubles, 300 homers, 1500 RBI’s and a career .305 average are just some of the jaw-dropping numbers.  He even swiped over 200 bases.

Thirteen straight All-Star Game selections, placing third in ROY voting in 1974, four top-3 MVP voting finishes which includes winning it in 1980.  He did win one Gold Glove although statistically he was often near or below the league average in fielding.  However, with the game on the line, there is no one else I would also want managing the hot corner.

That rounds up the top three in the batting order, we will next choose who will be in the meat of the order.

The last three KC Royals batters are important to make sure you can turn over the lineup to the top of the order.

7.

Little surprise to see Alex Gordon manning left field for this all-time lineup.  We hope the Gordo we get at the plate is the one who entered the batters box from 2011-2015 when he made three All-Star games and was 12th in MVP voting in 2014.  Either way, we will take his glove at any point of his career.

The pressure was on Gordon from the beginning as he was selected second overall in the 2005 MLB draft from the nearby University of Nebraska.  He played third base at the time and was a left-handed hitter who threw with his right making the comparisons to Brett inevitable.  He struggled with the weight of expectations but once he came back as an outfielder, his performance rocketed.

Overall he has hit .258 and reached base at a respectable .339 clip.  His home run total is usually in the mid-teens and twice has hit 20 or more.  Of course, we are really here for the glove work and the cannon for an arm.

Gordon had ridiculous seasons of 20 and 17 assists in 2011 and 2012 respectively and has 98 overall from the outfield.  Of course, there are the seven Gold Gloves to contend with as well.  We feel very comfortable with him batting seventh and playing the seven position.

8.

We all have fond memories of Frank White manning second base.  Overall, his offensive statistics are not as glossy as I remember, a .255/.293/.383 slash can attest to that, but he still was a tough out.  He never struck out more than 88 times in a season despite often recording over 500 plate appearances.

He had some speed, 178 career stolen bases, and a bit of pop, 160 long balls, and went to five All-Star games.  Like Gordon, White was a defensive wizard earning eight Gold Gloves.

He was a staple at second base as 2,151 of his 2,324 games were played at that position.  White was a key member of the 1985 World Series championship team as he drove in six runs with three doubles and a homer against the Cardinals.

All 18 years of his baseball career were spent in Kansas City and he went on to do commentating on Royals broadcasts.  Sadly, he had a falling out with the KC Royals but has stayed in the metro area serving as a County Executive for Jackson County.

9.

With more ability to reach base, Freddie Patek would have been the perfect lead off man for this team.  He stole 336 bases with the Royals including 49 in 1971 and an AL best 53 in 1977.  He also led the majors in triples with 11 in ’71 and finished sixth in the MVP voting.

He was a serviceable shortstop, not spectacular and could be error-prone, but was typically around the league average in fielding.  He gave the Royals nine seasons of his career and went to the All-Star game three times.

What holds Patek back from leading off is the .309 OBP he produced for the Royals.  The most walks he recorded in a season was 77 in 1974 but typically was in the 40’s or low 50’s for totals.  He definitely fit the model of a slap hitter never slugging higher than .371 back in ’71.

Still, Patek was an important foundation for building Kansas City into a perennial playoff team from the mid ’70s to the mid ’80s.  He did not let his 5’5″ 148-lb frame keep him from being a major league player for 14 years total, a remarkable feat.

“I never let my size stop me from doing anything,” Freddie Patek was saying in his pleasantly firm voice before last night’s game. “I even remember how I got this way.” – NY Times

There you have it.  The ultimate starting lineup for all-time Kansas City Royals players.  A nice blend of batting prowess and glove work that would be fun to watch.  One thing to be grateful for is that even through the ups and downs of KC Royals’ baseball, there are players of every era that are special to watch.