3 happy takes from another winning KC Royals weekend

The KC Royals just finished their second weekend of Cactus League play. Fortunately, it was much like their first.

After winning their Friday, Saturday and Sunday games last week, the Royals won three of the four contests they played this weekend. Only a 7-6 Saturday evening loss to the Dodgers in the second of the day's two split-squad games prevented the club from enjoying another perfect weekend: the Royals beat the A's 6-4 Friday, hammered the Reds 12-6 Saturday afternoon. and turned back the Giants 5-1 Sunday.

It was a pretty good weekend for Kansas City, which now leads the Cactus League with a 9-2 record. Three things happened from Friday through Sunday that should make Royals fans happy.

The KC Royals continued their excellent hitting over the weekend

Kansas City's offense, a sore spot that helped drag the team down last season, has been humming since Cactus League play began nine days ago, with eight especially hot hitters leading the way entering Saturday's games.

The Royals didn't cool off over the weekend. They scored 29 runs to average 7.25 per game, just a tick down from their 7.5 clip through Friday. And they banged out 48 hits, including 14 against both the Reds and Dodgers Saturday.

Pacing KC's weekend attack with a combined 9-for-11 performance were Nick Pratto (more on him in a moment), and Matt Duffy. Duffy's quest to make the Opening Day roster remained impressive: he's hitting .600 (9-for-15) with three doubles and four RBIs.

And the offensive highlight of the weekend may well be the triple Gavin Cross, the club's No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline who'd never appeared in any kind of major league game, laced Saturday night. Just in case you missed it:

KC Royals first base candidate Nick Pratto is doing what he needs to do

The Royals have no qualms about Nick Pratto's Gold Glove-type defense, nor should they. His glovework is excellent and frequently spectacular; he even won a minor league Gold Glove two seasons ago. And KC would love to have his defensive prowess at first base.

But his bat didn't permit the club to give him that job last year. His glove was up to the task during the almost month-and-a-half he spent with the Royals, but he hit so poorly that he ended up finishing the final two weeks of the campaign back at Triple-A Omaha.

Pratto can play an important role in the Royals' planned return to winning ways, but only if he rediscovers the keys to the 36-homer. 98-RBI, .265/.385/.602 minor league campaign he enjoyed in 2021. Only then will the Royals give him first base, where Vinnie Pasquantino will likely spend most of his time if Pratto's bat doesn't recover.

Fortunately, it appears Pratto may be on the right track. He went 3-for-3 (and scored three runs) against the Reds Saturday afternoon, then 1-for-2 with an RBI in Sunday's victory over the Giants.

Although he hasn't homered yet, and strikeouts remain his nemesis (his spring K% is 35.7), he's slashing .417/.429/.583 in five games. And that's at least some progress.