KC Royals: Big questions loom as season set to start

3 of 3

What questions surround the KC Royals as they prepare for Opening Day?

That the KC Royals finished spring training with the best record in the Cactus League is all fine and good, but the games are for real now and we’ll soon see how improved this club may be after General Manage Dayton Moore retooled it over the winter. Opening Day is Thursday, and answers to the many questions surrounding the team will start coming with the first pitch.

Those questions abound. Who will be the fifth starter when it’s time to add one? Who might flop, and who might have a breakout season? Will the bullpen hold up? Will Bobby Witt Jr. debut? Will Nicky Lopez be back?

Those are important questions, but let’s start with center field, where the Royals are relying on Michael A. Taylor to stabilize a position that’s been shaky since Lorenzo Cain left. Taylor’s issue isn’t his defense, it’s his chronically weak bat. His seven-year career slash is a worrisome .237/.291/.395, but he started and stayed hot this spring with a .333/.438/.615 line and 1.053 OPS. Yes, it was only spring training, but if he can split the difference between those two slash lines, KC will be fine in center.

Then there’s Andrew Benintendi, the Boston star with whom Moore ended his long search for another lefthanded bat to take Alex Gordon’s place. The Benintendi question is simple—can he rediscover the punch at the plate that made him so good for the Red Sox from 2016-2018? He very well might.

Related Story. Why Andrew Benintendi belongs. light

And right field? As of this writing, it appears the Royals will pin their early season hopes on rookie Kyle Isbel, who’ll appear in his first major league game if he makes the start Thursday. Isbel has no experience above High-A ball, and was a longshot to make the club until it sent Nicky Lopez and his bat to the minors, a move that likely shifts Whit Merrifield from right to second base. The challenge for Isbel is huge.

(Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports) /

The KC Royals’ infield has a new look this season. It could be a good one.

Not since Eric Hosmer played his last game for Kansas City in 2017 have the Royals been truly comfortable at first base. They tried Lucas Duda (twice), Ryan O’Hearn, and Ryan McBroom before moving Hunter Dozier there late last season. It looked like he might be the answer, but KC went in another direction in the offseason.

And that direction may finally be the right one. The club signed former Cleveland star Carlos Santana, a power-hitting switch hitter, and he’ll be at first when the Royals open Thursday. Don’t let his career .248 average worry you—he has a .366 OBP and 240 home to his credit. Will he be the same All-Star Santana who hit .281 with 34 homers and 93 RBIs in 2019? If he is, KC will have found its answer to Hosmer.

How long will Whit Merrifield be the KC Royals’ second baseman?

Nothing is set in stone, but it looks like Whit Merrifield is in for a long stay at second base. Nicky Lopez lost the job when he failed to show any improvement at the plate this spring—his excellent glove finally wasn’t enough to overcome his soft bat. So Merrifield is, for now, the second base solution, and will continue to be unless Lopez cures his hitting ills in the minors, a turnaround that isn’t likely to occur any time soon.

Will Adalberto Mondesi continue to hit like the All-Star he might become?

Was it really that long ago Adalberto Mondesi, the potential-packed KC Royals’ shortstop, looked so horribly lost at the plate? He entered last September homerless for 2020 and “hitting” .186, but turned baseball upside down with a sizzling six-homer, .356/.408/.667, 1.075 OPS final month that reminded everyone what he’s capable of. Mondesi cooled off this spring, but not by much, slashing .303/.343/.606 (.949 OPS). He’s looking good and not showing signs of dipping below Mendoza again. He needs to maintain the good hitting.

Related Story. Mondesi needs a full, healthy season. light

Can KC Royals catcher Salvador Perez avoid the mega-contract curse?

All eyes will be on Salvador Perez this season. Can he repeat his wonderful comeback campaign of a year ago when, after missing all of the 2019 campaign, and despite a positive COVID-19 test and vision issues, he exploded with 11 home runs and 32 RBIs in 37 games, and a .333/.353/.633 line?

And the Royals’ All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger-winning backstop will be scrutinized for yet another reason—the four-year, $82 million extension he recently signed that kicks in next year. It’s the biggest deal in franchise history, exceeding the similar, but less lucrative, contracts Alex Gordon (four years, $72 million) and Danny Duffy (five years, $65 million) signed but never quite lived up to. Now, the question becomes whether the same fate will befall Perez. It’s not likely.

(Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports) /

The KC Royals have questions about their starting rotation and their bullpen.

Kansas City entered the offseason searching for a fifth starter and found one relatively early. Three weeks before Christmas, former Royal Mike Minor agreed to a two-year contract to rejoin the team, and the Kansas City rotation seemed set with Brad Keller, Brady Singer, Danny Duffy, Kris Bubic and Minor.

Bubic’s spring changed things, however: opponents hit .389 against him, he gave up eight runs, 14 hits, and four walks in 7.1 innings, and the Royals sent him down last week. Fortunately, his absence won’t soon be felt because early schedule demands won’t require a fifth starter until at least mid-April.

Who will round out the rota when five starters are required? Will Bubic be ready to return, or will he still need work? Jakob Junis, with far more experience as a starter than reliever, improved this spring and could step in if Bubic can’t; Ervin Santana is a possibility if he makes the club. Time will tell.

How much might the Greg Holland-Wade Davis reunion help the KC Royals’ bullpen?

Greg Holland and Wade Davis are back together. For the first time since Kansas City non-tendered Holland after Tommy John surgery ended his 2015 season, the two veteran relievers, both of whom have excelled as closers, will pitch on the same club. While Holland making the Opening Day roster was a given when he re-upped with the Royals this winter following a successful 2020 comeback season (3-0, 1.91 ERA and six saves in 28 games), Davis’ chances were far less certain after two straight bad campaigns in Colorado. He pitched well this spring, though, and made the club.

Their good spring performances—Holland didn’t give up a run until his next-to-last game, and Davis didn’t until his last—bode well for the contributions they could make this season. Both righthanders were solid, Holland doesn’t appear to have missed a beat, and Davis seems to have recaptured his form and shows no lingering effects of the injuries that hampered him in 2018 and 2019. Look for a good year from Holland and a rebound from Davis.

What other questions face the Kansas City pitching staff?

Who will complete the starting rotation and how much better the Holland-Davis duo may make the bullpen aren’t the only pitching questions facing the KC Royals.

Will Mike Minor be the good addition the club needs him to be? He was a reliever in his only other KC season (2017), but then gave Texas 26 wins in two seasons as a starter before slipping to a combined 1-6 with the Rangers and A’s last year. Minor is a proven starting pitcher who can add considerable value…if he returns to form.

Can second year hurler Brady Singer pitch well enough to stay with the club or, like Bubic, will he require some fine-tuning in the minors? His 2020 (4-5, 4.06 ERA, including a 3-2, 2.73 September and a near no-hitter) was good for a rookie who’d never pitched above Double-A, but that lack of experience could haunt him in the full campaign 2021 is slated to be.

There are other questions, of course. Will the bullpen be as good, or even better, as it was last season? Will hot prospects Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch shake off their disappointing Cactus League performances and make their major league debuts? Will Danny Duffy, now in his final contract year, be moved by the trade deadline?

We’re about to find out.

Next. Keep an eye on this pitcher. dark

The regular season starts Thursday. That’s when the Royals will begin to answer all the questions about themselves.

Home / KC Royals News