3 bright spots that are being overshadowed by Royals' embarrassing downward spiral

The Kansas City Royals have hit a new low this week. After being swept once again and giving life to their fellow floundering American League rivals in the Boston Red Sox, the Royals find themselves tied for the fourth worst record in baseball with a 20-30 record - yes, 10 games below .500 entering Memorial Day weekend.

Amidst a losing stretch like this (and an overall embarrassing start to the season in general) the bright spots can be easily overlooked. While sometimes there may not be many, no team is completely devoid of things to smile about and take comfort in. That's exactly where the Royals are at right now.

While it hasn't translated to wins per se, Bobby Witt Jr. is doing Bobby Witt Jr. things and a pair of Royals are continuing to break out of their cold stretches.

Bobby Witt Jr. is on the path to back-to-back Platinum Gloves

While Witt may be in the heart of MVP conversations right now as the commanding major league leader in fWAR, it's been his defense that might be the most impressive thing about his season. With his recent offensive outburst that's taken him to a near-.300 AVG and 134 wRC+ he's certainly a sight to behold at the plate. And when discussing the MVP award, offense is the overwhelming factor for consideration.

And maybe the lack of focus on his defense is because everyone knows Witt is an elite defender and just comes to expect stardom with the glove at this point, especially after capturing his first Platinum Glove in 2025. However, the display he's putting on in 2026 is truly sensational.

The one fielding stat this Witt has been above-average in but never elite looking in is DRS, having posted just a career high total of three last season. However, it's only May 21 and Witt already has a DRS mark of eight, putting him in a tie for fifth overall among all MLB defenders this season.

And where's he thrived traditionally, OAA and FRV, Witt is still just as elite as ever. His 13 OAA leads all major league defenders and his 10 FRV trails only Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Carter Jensen is breaking out of his recent funk at the plate

After taking home Royals Hitter of the Month honors for April, Carter Jensen entered quite the slump afterwards, undoing much of the work he'd done to put himself into the AL Rookie of the Year conversation. From April 26 to May 8, Jensen looked as poor as anyone could get at the plate, slashing just .081/.190/.081 with no homers, just one RBI, a 45.2% K-rate and -17 wRC+.

However, after ripping a double and going 1-for-3 with a walk and run scored on May 9 against the Tigers, everything has changed for the young Royals catcher. From that point until where we stand now, Jensen is slashing .308/.406/.462 with a 15.6% walk-rate, a sub-20% K-rate and a 134 wRC+.

For the season overall, Jensen will have a lot of work to do if he's to get back in the Rookie of the Year conversation. His 102 wRC+ is more average looking than anything. However, Royals fans will be happy that their rising star no longer looks dead in the water and is doing his best to put the Royals in a winning position - even if a majority of the team is failing to do so right now.

John Schreiber has been looking increasingly reliable after horrid start

Many Royals fans (including myself) were fed up with John Schreiber to start the season and likely wondered how long the KC brain trust was willing to roll with him. However, since holding a 7.11 ERA after blow-up third of an inning on April 16th against the Tigers, Schreiber has gone about his business and is building trust back.

In 13 innings across 13 bullpen outings since then, Schreiber has only surrendered a pair of earned runs with a stat line that's looked very impressive. He's posted just a 1.38 ERA in that span along with a respectable 1.15 WHIP and .234 BAA.

Now, does this mean Schreiber should be occupying high-leverage innings all of a sudden? No. His 5.12 K/9 clip compared to a 4.66 BB/9 mark is still concerning looking.

However, he's shrunken his ERA from north of 7.00 down to 3.26, which is certainly commendable and makes him someone the Royals don't necessarily have to worry about for the time being in a bullpen with plenty of bigger question marks than he is.

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