3 KC Royals who will be better in 2025, 2 who will be worse

A year ago at this time, even the closest observers of the Kansas City Royals probably didn't foresee — and certainly weren't openly predicting — the spectacular success the club achieved in 2024. After all, turning around a calamity like the Royals' 106-loss season is next to impossible.

Eight months later, though, the club that was so awful the year before made it into the playoffs and won its American League Wild Card series matchup with the Baltimore Orioles. And although the Royals lost to the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series, their 2024 resurgence was unforgettably good.

Now, only one thing is certain about these Royals, and that's the uncertainty of what lies ahead. Did their offseason roster tinkering, not as extensive as last winter's successful overhaul, improve the Royals? Can KC again steer clear of major injuries? Will the gamble of trading for Kyle Wright pay off?

No one really knows the answers to those and several other major questions surrounding the Royals as they prepare for a new season, but everyone can make predictions, including forecasting which players will be better, and which worse, than they were last season.

KC Royals reliever Hunter Harvey will be better

Looking to shore up a questionable bullpen, general manager J.J. Picollo bit the baseball bullet hard last summer when he traded promising third baseman Cayden Wallace — then the club's second-best prospect per MLB Pipeline — to the Washington Nationals for Harvey.

The deal had some upside — in 95 games and 100 innings spread across the two previous seasons, Harvey had a 2.70 ERA, a 10.1 SO9 and 2.1 BB9, and saved 10 games for the Nationals.

But he was struggling with a 4.20 ERA and 2-4 record in 43 games when he arrived in KC. And if you blinked, you probably missed him pitch for the Royals — just 5.2 innings into his KC tenure, Harvey had already surrendered four runs, eight hits, and four walks, and landed on the IL with a season-ending back injury.

If fully recovered, and if his good Washington past is Kansas City prologue, Harvey can't help but be better this season.