Big questions (with key answers) for every KC Royals position heading into 2025

A huge question faces the Kansas City Royals as they prepare to begin spring training in a few short weeks and the 2025 regular season in less than three months — can they be better than the 2024 club that shook off several straight awful seasons and re-legitimized itself with a spot in the playoffs? It's a fair and important, but not the only, inquiry that must be made of this team and general manager J.J. Picollo. Big questions must also be answered at each position.

Going around the field, here are some answers.

Catcher: How much time will Salvador Pérez spend behind the plate?

How the Royals answer this question becomes more important with each passing season. Pérez plays, and prefers to play, the game's most physically demanding position, but entering his age-35 season, he must continue to catch less and play elsewhere more. That's the only way he can slow time's attack on his formidable skill set, prolong his stellar career, and increase the likelihood of getting into the Hall of Fame.

Expect the Royals to continue their trend of reducing Pérez's catching — 72 of his 81 career appearances at first base have come over the past two seasons. That he made no errors in 49 games there last year proves he plays the position well. He's also quite capable of handling more time as KC's designated hitter.

Fortunately, Freddy Fermin's pleasantly surprising emergence as a good big league catcher affords manager Matt Quatraro the luxury of lightening Pérez's load. Look for Pérez to catch fewer than the 91 times he did in 2024.

First base: Can Vinnie Pasquantino stay healthy for the KC Royals?

Although Quatraro will increase Pérez's time at first, the position still belongs to Pasquantino. But a cloud hangs over him — injuries have shortened each of his three big league seasons. Shoulder problems cost him nearly three weeks in 2022 and almost all of 2023, and the thumb he broke last August sidelined him for the final month of last year's regular campaign.

Pasquantino's power, timely hitting, and decent defense are commodities the Royals can't spare. Without the thumb fracture, which necessitated the waiver claim that brought Yuli Gurriel to the club, Pasquantino would have driven in well over 100 runs and homered at least 20 times last season (he finished with 97 RBI and 19 home runs). The Royals need his big bat.

And they should get it more in 2025 than ever before. It appears the surgery he underwent in 2023 solved his shoulder issues, and his thumb injury was unusual and not likely to reoccur.

Second base: Who's going to play second for Kansas City?

Michael Massey's history of back problems made this a legitimate question even before the Royals traded Brady Singer to the Cincinnati Reds for Jonathan India, who's played no defensive position other than second as a major leaguer. Some have suggested a Massey-India keystone platoon — Massey hits from the left side, India from the right — but did Kansas City really trade Singer for a platoon player? Not likely.

Expect India to get the second base nod, with Massey available to spell him when necessary and possibly begin learning one of the corner outfield slots. Left fielder MJ Melendez's continually disappointing bat and unspectacular defense make his position especially vulnerable, and the Royals like Massey's pop.

Shortstop: Will Bobby Witt Jr. have another great season?

It's almost impossible to see Witt doing anything else. He's just that good, and the numbers prove it — missing only one game last season, Witt's .332 average and 211 hits led the majors, he hit 32 homers and drove in 109 runs, stroked 45 doubles and 11 triples, and stole 31 bases. His remarkable 10.4 fWAR speaks for itself, and he won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger.

Can he do better? No doubt, but a season like 2024 will be just fine.

Third base: Is the hot corner Maikel Garcia's position to lose?

It certainly looks that way. Despite fan grumbling about Garcia's hitting, Picollo hasn't signed or traded for a replacement, and the club dealt Cayden Wallace — its best third base prospect — to Washington for Hunter Harvey last July.

That leaves Garcia, and apparently no one else, at third, which will be adequate if he recaptures the offensive form that produced a .272 average two seasons ago. And the Royals will likely tolerate his glaring lack of power (11 homers in 289 games) if he plays the kind of superb defense he displayed two seasons ago.

But Garcia's hold on third isn't as strong as it used to be. A bad start at the plate or in the field could force the Royals to seek other options.

Left field: How long will KC's commitment to MJ Melendez last?

Perhaps not much longer. Melendez, a converted catcher, is still struggling at the plate and fighting to find his way in the outfield after spending most of his still-short three season major league career in left.

Melendez's power is adequate — he's averaging 17 home runs a season and is capable of more — but last season's .206 average was his worst, and he's slashing only .206/.273/.400. He has yet to post a wRC+ of at least 100, his career fWAR is -0.8, and his defense, although somewhat improved, is far from what it needs to be.

Signs point, then, to Melendez occupying the hottest seat in Quatraro's pre-spring training lineup. The club clearly wants him to succeed and is trying everything to make that happen, but time may be running out.

Center field: Is his defense still enough to keep Kyle Isbel in center full time?

Isbel more than adequately covers one of the toughest center fields in the majors. While his arm isn't great, his nine OAA and five DRS were both the AL's third-highest, and he makes spectacular plays look routine. Those things are important to a club that calls Kauffman Stadium home and places a premium on excellent defense.

But Isbel's battle with major league pitching continues. His occasional but infrequent homers are nice, but since breaking into the majors in 2021 he's slashing only .231/.283/.369 with a 77 wRC+. The Royals would love to see more pop and production from Isbel, but for now, his good glove will keep him in center.

Right field: Can Hunter Renfroe rebound?

After his disappointing first year in Kansas City, the Royals hope Renfroe can turn things around, but it won't be easy.

Excluding the 2020 pandemic season when he hit .156 in 42 games, last year's .229 average is Renfroe's full-season worst, and the nine-year veteran fell short of 20 homers in a 162-game campaign for only the second time. His most encouraging performance of the season — the .331 he hit over June and July — was sandwiched between the .178 he began June with and the .211 he hit over the regular season's final two months.

So, Renfroe bouncing back is possible, but whether it's probable is questionable.

Designated hitter: Another committee approach for the KC Royals?

A full-time DH would be ideal, but it's not happening in Kansas City. The need to "rest" Pérez by playing him at first base while keeping Pasquantino's bat in the lineup means Pasquantino will see time in the designated hitter's spot. Pérez will DH when he's not catching or playing first. Massey's back will likely require him to DH occasionally, and don't be surprised to see Melendez taking a few turns at the position.

Pitching: Is moving Kris Bubic to the rotation the right move?

Transitioning Bubic, a Royals starter until last season, back to the rotation is happening. Time will tell whether it's the right thing to do, especially considering how he performed as a reliever in 2024.

Back from the Tommy John Surgery that sidelined him for all but three big league games in 2023, Bubic spent last season in Kansas City's bullpen and enjoyed arguably the best of his five big league campaigns. Showing no ill effects of his forced time away from major league mounds (he pitched nine times during rehab assignments to the Arizona Complex League, Double-A Northwest Arkansas, and Triple-A Omaha last year before being reactivated), he struck out 39, walked only five, and posted the first sub-3.00 ERA of his career (2.67) in 30.1 innings. He also earned his first big league save.

Bubic's career statistics don't offer tremendous support for his return to the rotation. As a starter, he's an unimpressive 9-27 with a 4.99 ERA, including an ugly 3-13, 5.88 ERA campaign in 2022. But in 37 career relief appearances, he's 2-2 with a 2.97 ERA. Those numbers alone suggest moving Bubic out of the pen is risky and may not work.

And then there's the most recent alteration to the club's pitching landscape — after briefly testing the free agent market, Michael Lorenzen is back with the Royals. Kansas City should lean toward giving him Singer's vacated rotation spot and making either Alec Marsh or Kyle Wright the fifth starter, moves which would necessarily keep Bubic in the pen where he fared so well in 2024.

Even if Bubic starts the season in the rotation, there's always a place for him as a reliever.