KC Royals: 2 biggest surprises, 2 biggest busts of 2021

The KC Royals, a club searching for relevance ever since their ill-fated 2017 attempt to squeeze one more season of good out of a disintegrating championship team fizzled and failed, retooled themselves over the winter. They brought in Carlos Santana, Andrew Benintendi, Michal A. Taylor, and Mike Minor to plug holes in a shaky lineup and rotation.

Although they’ve made their marks, these additions haven’t, of course, transformed the Royals into something they haven’t been since 2015. Familiar inconsistencies in the rotation and at the plate, flaws that must be fixed before the club can seriously contend, continue to plague the Royals.

Simply put, this is a club firing well on some cylinders, but not at all on others. And although some players have pleasantly surprised, others have been utter disappointments.

A veteran designated hitter-outfielder is the KC Royals’ biggest bust.

The biggest bust of the season is clear—look no further than Jorge Soler, the (sometimes) power hitting designated hitter-outfielder whose 48-homer 2019 campaign is a fading memory rapidly being swallowed up by a miserable season-long battle with his own bat.

The Royals pay Soler to hit home runs. He’s hit five through the club’s 59 games, and that’s not enough for what KC pays him to do, especially when he’s on pace to homer about 14 times this year.

But that power failure is merely one symptom of the offensive liability Soler is. Entering tonight’s game with the Angels, he’s slashing .174/.265/.315. It’s an awful line produced by a long, long slump that shows no signs of ending.

Who is the club’s second biggest bust, and its two biggest surprises? Let’s find out.

A player who signed a lucrative extension is struggling for the KC Royals.

This has not been the kind of season Hunter Dozier, or the Royals, anticipated when the club suddenly gave him a reported four-year, $25 million contract extension over the winter. The magnitude of the pay increase—he’d signed a one-year, $2.72 million deal in December, a move that enabled player and franchise to avoid arbitration—signaled the Royals expected great things from their third baseman.

But great things aren’t what Dozier has accomplished. Through Tuesday, his .159/.230/.371 line reflects the struggle his 2021 has been. He’s hitting .150 (8-for-53) with five RBIs over his last 15 games; although he has seven home runs, four of them came in the first 23 of his 43 games.

Some will argue the concussion Dozier suffered last month is to blame. Yes, he did miss two weeks, but he was hitting .139 when the injury occurred.

Is Dozier pressing too much after signing his extension, pushing and trying too hard to justify the money the Royals decided he’s worth? Only he knows, and only he can change the situation if that’s what underlies his difficulties at the plate.

If Monday’s game against the Angels is any indication, there may be light at the end of Dozier’s tunnel. He’d hit in four straight games until last Saturday; he went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI Monday and looked just fine doing it.

Whether Dozier turns disappointment into surprise this season remains to be seen.

A little-known reliever is making a name for himself with the KC Royals.

That a Cactus League record of 1-0 to go with a 2.89 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 9.1 innings earns its owner a major league roster spot isn’t shocking. But it was at least surprising in the case of Jake Brentz, a lefthanded reliever who’d never been in the big leagues before and whose record wasn’t bursting with great numbers.

But on Opening Day in Kansas City, Brentz became a major leaguer. The Royals added him to the roster after his stellar spring performance.

Brentz came to the Royals in late August 2019 with a sizzling fastball and a penchant for strikeouts (9.74 minor league SO9 through 2019), but also a propensity to walk too many batters and give up too many hits.

Kansas City, a club always on the lookout for hidden pitching gems, took a chance on Brentz and even named him to their 60-man Player Pool last summer. Whatever the Royals saw at the Alternate Training site must have impressed them, and his spring training efforts clearly did.

Now, Brentz is repaying the club for its confidence in him.

Emblematic of just how good he’s been this season is Brentz’s performance over his last 10 games. He’s held opponents scoreless, given up only two hits, and struck out 12 in 11.1 innings.

Brentz’s 30 appearances this season leads the team. He’s 1-0 and his 1.88 trails only Scott Barlow’s 1.80 through Tuesday, and he has 32 strikeouts in 28.2 innings for an even 10.0 SO9.

That Manager Mike Matheny calls on Brentz so often, and he delivers so well, proves how valuable he’s been to the KC Royals. That makes the rookie Kansas City’s biggest surprise of the season.

The KC Royals’ season deserves mixed reviews. But it’s easy to tell who the biggest surprises, and biggest busts, have been so far.