KC Royals: Who plays left field if Andrew Benintendi leaves?

For years, worrying about left field was something the KC Royals just didn’t do.

They didn’t have to. Left field belonged to Alex Gordon. Case closed.

Until Sept. 27, 2020, that is, when Gordon played on a big league field for the last time and stepped into a richly-deserved retirement.

His once good skills with the bat had deteriorated too much for him to continue, but as Gordon left his final game at the top of the second inning, no one doubted his season’s glove work would bring him his eighth Gold Glove. (It did).

Gordon’s retirement left a gaping hole in Kansas City’s outfield, one the club didn’t manage to fill until it traded for Andrew Benintendi just before spring camp opened last year. Benintendi proved worthy of the deal by winning his first Gold Glove, leading this year’s otherwise disappointing offense, and earning his first All-Star Game berth Sunday.

https://twitter.com/Royals/status/1546247651699613696

Andrew Benintendi is good, but his KC Royals days are probably numbered.

Almost certainly, Benintendi will soon leave a hole of his own in left field—because he’s playing out his contract and free agency awaits at season’s end, Kansas City will surely trade him before the Aug. 2 major league deal deadline passes.

Who will replace him if he leaves remains to be seen. His successor probably won’t come in the same transaction via which Benintendi is destined to depart—no one trades a left fielder for another—but the Royals have some internal candidates.

Let’s see who a few of them might be.

The KC Royals could again transform an infielder into a left fielder.

Alex Gordon came to the majors as a third baseman but quickly proved the hot corner wasn’t for him; unwilling to lose out on his potential, the Royals turned him into a left fielder.

And they might do the same with Nick Pratto, their No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline who’s spent most of his professional career at first base but is exploring the outfield at Triple-A Omaha. Because Kansas City needs to find a place for his bat, left field could be his ticket to the majors, just as it was for Gordon.

Pratto’s outstanding 2021 minor league season (36 home runs, 98 RBIs and a .265/.385/.602 line) seemed to make him the odds-on favorite to replace Carlos Santana at first base. But that was before he embedded himself in a prolonged slump this season and Vinnie Pasquantino’s hot hitting at Omaha propelled him to Kansas City ahead of Pratto.

Still, Pratto remains a player whose bat the Royals covet and need. Fortunately, he’s improving—he hit his 16th homer of the year for Omaha Saturday and his 17th Sunday, and is slashing .278/.422/.611 this month.

Where to play him when he’s finally deemed major league-ready is the question. First base comes immediately to mind, of course, but Pasquantino is less versatile than Pratto and more likely to stick at first and DH.

Pratto has played in the outfield 20 times for the Storm Chasers this season—12 in left and eight in right, suggesting the Royals clearly want him in their lineup, even if it’s in left. Don’t be surprised if they try him there if Benintendi moves on.

The KC Royals have a pair of outfielders who can move to left field.

Nick Pratto and Brewer Hicklen aren’t the only viable candidates to replace Andrew Benintendi. Kansas City has two potential replacements on its active roster.

Edward Olivares is making the best of his first sustained opportunity to play regularly since coming to KC from San Diego two years ago in the Trevor Rosenthal deal. Although he missed over a month earlier this season with a quad strain, he’s hitting .308 with a .357 OBP, his three homers are just two short of his career high, and he hasn’t committed an error.

Primarily a right fielder, Olivares has played left three times this year and in 28 of 89 career outfield appearances. So he’s quite capable of moving over from right.

Then there’s Kyle Isbel who, like Olivares, spends most of his time in right field, where he’s been deployed 26 times this year. But he’s also played left seven times in parts of two big league seasons and 31 times as a minor leaguer.

The Royals, though, are waiting for Isbel to hit. His .276/.337/.434 line in 28 games last season was fine, but he’s slashing only .203/.234/.308 with two homers and 12 RBIs in 52 games this year.

Kansas City remains high on Isbel, so he could get a shot at left field.

The Royals have options in left field if they trade Andrew Benintendi.