6 KC Royals who helped make first month bearable

In his contract year, this KC Royals outfielder has a case for an extension.

Andrew Benintendi, the talented left fielder Kansas City traded Franchy Cordero and Khalil Lee for two winters ago, has business to settle with the Royals sometime in the near future. Unless they reach a last-minute accord, he and the club are headed for an arbitration hearing after they couldn’t agree on terms for a 2022 contract.

After the start he’s having, the Royals may want to seriously consider cutting a brand new deal with Benintendi, especially considering he’s eligible for free agency after this season.

Through Saturday, Benintendi is the only Royal hitting better than .242—although New York held him hitless (only the fourth time opponents have managed that this season)—he’s hitting .373 with 10 RBIs and six walks in 19 games. His .419 OBP and .882 OPS are excellent.

He also hasn’t made an error, which isn’t surprising considering the Gold Glove he won last year for his first season trying to replace Alex Gordon in left field.

Coupled with that honor and the finish he put on his 2021 campaign, the case Benintendi is now making for an extension is compelling. He overcame an early season slump and later a rib fracture to hit .342 and drive in 29 runs last September and ended the year with a .276 average and 17 homers, and his 2022 numbers suggest he’s headed for an even better season.

A pair of veteran starters are pitching quite well for the KC Royals in 2022.

They have yet to win even one game between them, but Zack Greinke and Brad Keller haven’t let anyone down on the mound this season.

They’ve been joys to watch, especially for Kansas City fans starved for better starting pitching.

The show began Opening Day when Greinke allowed Cleveland only one run over 5.2 innings in his return to Kauffman Stadium. Because he left trailing 1-0, he didn’t get the win when the Royals scored twice in the eighth for a 3-1 victory.

He’s started three times since then and pitched well enough to win, but the Royals can’t seem to score for him—they average two runs per game when he starts, the same average offensive effort Keller receives. Scheduled to pitch next against the Cardinals in St. Louis Monday, Greinke is 0-1 with a 2.86 ERA.

Equally impressive has been Keller, the fifth-year Kansas City starter who is so far adhering to his pattern of pitching well in even-numbered seasons. His lack of a victory this year isn’t due to lack of solid performance—his only rough game came nine days ago when Seattle tagged him for six runs (four earned) in 4.2 innings. Otherwise, he’s given up an average of just one run per start and has an ERA of 2.19.

The KC Royals are benefitting from the fine efforts of two young pitchers.

One is lefthanded, the other a righty. One is 25, the other 26. One is a second-year Royal, the other a rookie. And one is a starter, the other a reliever.

The differences, however, don’t mean much. Not when Daniel Lynch and Collin Snider are pitching so well.

Southpaw Lynch, 25 and coming off one of the best starts of a short major league career—a scoreless six-inning, two-hit, seven-strikeout victory over the White Sox last Tuesday that rivals the eight scoreless frames he threw against Detroit last year—is the only Kansas City starter with two wins this season (relievers Snider and Scott Barlow also have two). His ERA is a certainly acceptable 3.38, but still skewed by the six runs he surrendered in his first start.

Lynch’s efforts vindicate Kansas City’s decision to bring him back to the majors after his horrendous big league start—he was 0-2 with an ugly 15.75 ERA in three games when the Royals sent him back to Triple-A Omaha last May. But he returned in July and went 4-4, 4.35 the rest of the way, earned a rotation spot in spring training, and is making fans forget about his miserable introduction to the majors.

Save for the White Sox scoring twice against him in less than an inning Wednesday, the game has so far spared Snider, 26, the rugged initial treatment it gave Lynch in 2021. The righthander has walked only three in 10 appearances, the lone run he allowed Seattle eight days is the only one he’s surrendered other than Chicago’s two, and no one scored against him until his seventh game. He’s 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA.

The Royals didn’t have a good April. But some of their players did.