ESPN's biggest Royals flaw of the new season is somehow flying under the radar

At 17-21, the Kansas City Royals have certainly seen better days. With their early season struggled have come the "boo-birds", as there's been many things to critique about this squad so far. While many have focused their attention on the struggling stars like Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez, questionable lineup decisions and a pitching staff slowly being plagued by injury, there's been another issue that's not been completely ignored, but has certainly not appeared to be at the front of Royals fans' minds.

This is there second base situation, which the collective of the now injured Jonathan India, Michael Massey and to a lesser extent Nick Loftin have made it the second worst position, not including DH, statistically among all KC positions this year. It only bests first base which has been almost exclusively occupied by the floundering Pasquantino.

Now, why it's flying under the radar remains a mystery. Perhaps it's because there wasn't much expectation on the spot to begin with, with how poorly India and Massey performed in 2025. Maybe it's because positions like the outfield have just been a bigger worry with higher stakes names like Jac Caglianone deemed more in more need of performing well. Whatever the case though, it doesn't change the fact that the Royals can't ignore the lack of production they're getting from second base and that's why the ESPN listed it as the one thing they must change moving forward.

Bradford Doolittle said that even as the Royals have improved in recent weeks after "teetering on the brink of early oblivion", second base has continually been a low point for them with what they're getting out of the Massey and Loftin platoon.

Doolittle did acknowledge that Loftin is the better of the two, in fact he's been above average this season overall, but in occupying the weakside of the platoon and given his limited power profile, a name like Loftin can only take you so far. There's also an argument to be made that his true value could come in his utility, which manager Matt Quatraro outlined as a key point for his lasting Royals success entering the season.

"The Royals should remain a part of the AL Central race, but any marginal upgrade they can make will be important," Doolittle wrote. "If Massey doesn't get going, this would be one area for Kansas City to target."

Royals internal options dwindling to quickly resolve struggling 2B platoon

As the season progresses, more names will be revealed as trade targets with teams accepting their fate of missing out on October. This in turn will create some more lasting solutions to the Royals second base issues. This can't come soon enough though for the Royals, who fingers-crossed will still be in a place of contention when it does, because their infield options in Omaha look rather grim at the moment.

After hot starts to the season, veteran's Josh Rojas and Kevin Newman both look far from being ready to make an impact in the majors. Rojas is now slashing .212/.274/.394 with just a 67 wRC+ while Newman is slashing just .253/.333/.291 with a 68 wRC+. Then, fellow former big leaguers Abraham Toro, Connor Kaiser and Brandon Drury and their 64, 67 and 43 wRC+ marks respectively, don't nearly look like solutions either.

Looking from a prospect standpoint as well, there's no younger Royals who look ready to make the jump from Omaha. Javier Vaz and Peyton Wilson remain in the injured list, with only the latter getting a shot to make an impact this season after a strong spring training showing before the injury bug hit. Wilson did look promising though with a .308 AVG, .810 OPS and 122 wRC+ in 11 games to start the year, so perhaps if he can return then the cupboard won't look completely bare.

This means it's probably on Loftin and Massey to figure it out at least until teams would be more receptive to deal their big league talents. Otherwise, the Royals could find themselves in the boat of being among those teams selling assets when trade season really ramps up.

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