KC Royals: How Andrew Benintendi became himself again

Andrew Benintendi was acquired by the KC Royals in a February 2021 three-team trade with the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox. For Benintendi, Boston received Franchy Cordero, Luis De La Rosa, and Grant Gambrell from the Royals, who also sent Khalil Lee to the Mets.

It’s been just over a year since the trade took place, but it will take much longer to determine how the prospects involved pan out in the major leagues.

What is clear, however, is that Benintendi is working out quite well for the Royals. And that’s a good thing, especially considering the downturn his career took before he left Boston.

At first glance, Benintendi seems to be a slightly better than league-average hitter (he posted a 106 wRC+ in 134 games last season). He won a Gold Glove in left field (his first) and seems to be pretty good at the plate even if a little streaky. Not a bad trade return, right?

Appreciating Andrew Benintendi’s value to the KC Royals requires a close look.

But a deeper look is necessary to determine just how good the Benintendi deal has been for the Royals. Important to understand is not only where Benintendi is now, but where he’s been and what has changed for him at the plate. He’s seen his fair share of extreme ups and extreme downs since starting his pro career as a top draft pick and quickly taking his place among the top prospects in the game, then exploding onto the major league scene.

To understand exactly what Benintendi has become for the Royals, it’s important to look at how he started.

KC Royals outfielder Andrew Benintendi made it to the major leagues quickly.

Benintendi was drafted seventh overall by the Red Sox in the 2015 major league draft. He skyrocketed up various prospects lists and was mlb.com’s No.1 2017 preseason prospect. At that time, Fangraphs graded him a 65 future value; according to Fangraphs’ prospect scale, he was an elite hitter with above-average power, above-average fielding ability and above-average speed.

Before making it to the majors, Benintendi appeared in 151 minor league games over two seasons. He slashed .312/.392/.540 with 20 home runs, 26 stolen bases, and a walk rate north of 11%. Benintendi never struck out more than 12% of the time and never posted a wRC+ under 135.

That impressive minor league effort led to a call-up to the Sox directly from Double-A during the 2016 season. He stuck, playing 333 games for Boston from 2016-2018.

In that span, Benintendi slashed .282/.359/.447 with a 113 wRC+. He averaged just 18 home runs per season but hit 78 doubles while earning a 10.5% walk rate and just a 16.9% strikeout rate. He wasn’t a home run king but hit for average, had good doubles power, walked at a strong rate, and managed his strikeouts.

Benintendi looked like a superstar in the making at the end of 2018. He was just 24 and had capped off a special World Series run with the Red Sox; all that was left for him in Boston was to further develop his power and grow into his frame.

And his approach at the plate reflected an emphasis on power. Benintendi’s fairly open stance, big leg kick and upward swing angles looked to produce a higher launch angle and more power.

The quest for power would continue, which ultimately proved costly to the remainder of his production in Boston.

The trade to the Royals appears to have changed Andrew Benintendi’s career.

Benintendi came to Kansas City in 2021—the Royals bought low on the former prospective superstar hoping he’d rediscover his former glory and fill the void left by retired left fielder Alex Gordon. Perhaps the best foreshadowing of Benintendi’s future success was Kauffman Stadium itself, which doesn’t offer many easy home runs and, like Dodger Stadium, is made for contact hitters, not sluggers.

The only way for Benintendi to find success with the Royals was to get back to his roots, to focus once again on his excellent hit tool. No longer would he need to focus so much on launch angles or try to hit more home runs.

The results in his first season with Kansas City were telling. Benintendi’s walks were down (just a 6% walk rate), but so were the strikeouts. He fanned just 18% of the time and slashed .276/.324/.442. Of 46 extra-base hits, 27 were doubles as Benintendi posted a 106 wRC+. It was Benintendi’s best season since the 2018 World Series campaign.

What helped the change? Take a look:

The open stance is gone and with it the high leg kick. Kansas City may have changed Benintendi’s approach at the plate, but not Benintendi. He’ll still lift baseballs aplenty, but that won’t be his focus. He’s himself once again and it’s paying big dividends for everyone.

Has left fielder Andrew Benintendi regained his good form with the KC Royals?

One thing is abundantly clear when you watch Andrew Benintendi play baseball: he has so much left to give. The Royals got a great version of Benintendi last season when he posted a 106 wRC+, but don’t think a 6% better than league average major league hitter is the peak version of their left fielder. To find evidence of this fact, you don’t need to go any further than Kauffman Stadium during any Royals game this season. The version of the Royals’ star left fielder we see today arrived last season.

After hitting the disabled list with a rib injury last June, Benintendi missed nearly a month with the injury. He returned July 4 and hit close to what he had for the entire season to that point.

Soon thereafter, though, something changed. Beginning in August, he became the best version of himself at the plate we’ve seen. For the rest of the season, Benintendi slashed .300/.347/.483. He had 24 extra-base hits (17 doubles) in that span. He struck out just 15% of the time and averaged a 90 mph exit velocity (up from 85 mph in 2020).

After winning American League Player of the Week for the first week of September, Benintendi was named the Royals’ Player of the Month. He slashed .342/.398/.570; his September wRC+ was 160. Baseball’s former top prospect had finally landed among the best hitters in the major leagues, if only for a month.

From September until the end of the regular season, Benintendi ranked seventh in baseball in batting average, 10th in OBP, 13th in OPS, and 12th wRC+. Those numbers beg this question: can he repeat his 2021 season-ending performance this season?

In short, it has carried over, and then some. Through the first seven games of the season, he’s slashing .320/.393/440. That .320 is second only to Nicky Lopez’s .350 among Kansas City’s qualified hitters, he leads the Royals in RBIs, OBP and OPS, is tied for second in walks, and is second in SLG

Benintendi is himself again, restored to the hitter he was destined to become back when he was the top prospect in the game. Because he’s scheduled to become a free agent for the first time after this season ends, the Royals should hope to reach an agreement on an extension with him sometime soon.

Hopefully, a deal can be reached to keep Benintendi in Kansas City for a long time. Even if that doesn’t happen, one thing is already certain—after unlocking the present version of Andrew Benintendi, there’s no way the Royals will be losers of the trade that brought him to Kansas City.

Andrew Benintendi seems to be Andrew Benintendi again.