3 KC Royals who need to be better in June

Listen, we all know how badly the KC Royals 2023 season is going so far. The boys in blue are at the bottom of the AL Central, with only the Oakland Athletics preventing them from being the worst in all of baseball. The Royals are 21 games below the .500 mark come Memorial Day, something that long-time fans are unfortunately used to. It is frustrating, but even the most optimistic fans knew this was not going to be a contending year. The front office was transparent with their words, telling fans about the evaluation year and their actions by not adding much major-league talent this offseason. 

The KC Royals performed better in May, but not by much.

Royals fans will drive themselves crazy if they do not try to find some positives in this season. Unfortunately, the team started off with a historic offensive drought, and then the pitching similarly struggled. The hole this team dug in April was deep, with a 7-21 record. Thankfully, the team improved their May record with double-digit wins. Still well below .500 on the month, though. Improvement is improvement, though, and I will take any positivity I can get at this point.

There were players, like infielder Michael Massey and catcher Salvador Perez, who had great May performances. But there were also those who struggled mightily. These three players are not only the ones that fell short statistically, but their struggles now have ripple effects throughout this season. Each one plays a different part, but all contributed to the Royals falling short this month.

Starting pitcher Jordan Lyles

Royals fans are familiar with the struggling starter known as Jordan Lyles. The Royals "big" free agent acquisition this offseason did not do worse in May than in April but continued to reach historic lows. Through 11 starts, his nine losses, 50 earned runs, and 16 surrendered home runs are the worst in all of baseball. The Royals have not won a single game that Lyles started. Players can have slumps, but few have been worse than the one Lyles is in.

Seeing Lyles turn a corner at this point is hard to envision. While he has 7.1 WAR in 13 seasons, he has never been an exemplary pitcher. He has never posted an ERA below 4, logged more than 150 strikeouts, or been a team's top starter. Considering all that, expecting him to at least be an innings eater in the Royals rotation was a fair expectation. He did record at least 175 innings in the past two seasons, averaging nearly six innings per start. Lyles replicating those marks seems like an otherworldly stretch now. There is a reason he has played for eight different teams in his career, and it wasn't because he is a hot trade piece.

It is hard to pick one or two things Lyles could be doing differently. Miss bats? His 12.4% barrel mark is nearly double the league average, putting him in the 10th percentile. Lyles compounds that with one of the worst overall whiff percentages in all of baseball, landing him once again in the 10th percentile. His hard-hit percentage is in the 69th percentile, which is nice. Outside of that, there is nothing that Lyles is really excellent at this season. It is disappointing. Usually, fans can look at a player and find at least one good thing they do. From this perspective, there is not a tangible thing Lyles can do to help the Royals win.

Lyles can still find his footing this season, but his difficulties through May will overshadow any progress. The Royals signed the veteran after one decent season, in a move similar to something the previous leadership would have done. Lyles is here to stay, as Kansas City lacks any young pitcher able to take his spot in the rotation. For fans' sake, Lyles needs to not be a guaranteed loss every fifth day in June.

Reliever Aroldis Chapman

Yes, another player whose numbers look good would look even better if not for bad May performances. Reliever Aroldis Chapman is arguably Kansas City's biggest trade piece heading into the trade season, so his bounce back in June would benefit Kansas City's minor-league system the most.

Chapman was not a popular player after signing with Kansas City this offseason. Work ethic concerns in New York only added to Chapman's off-field issues. His 2022 stats were not going to have teams clamoring for his services, but the 35-year-old veteran improbably ended up in Kansas City. A single-year, incentive-laden deal made it clear that the Royals had no long-term plans for Chapman. This made him an intriguing trade chip before he threw a single pitch this season. That trade value has only gone up as the season has gone along. Chapman is performing at an All-Star level once again.

He is not relying on the fastball nearly as much in 2023, despite still having one of the best four-seamers in MLB. Chapman's fastball velocity is back in the 100th percentile for the first time since 2018. He tosses that pitch 56% of the time, the second-lowest amount of his career. Meanwhile, both his slider and sinker usage rates have risen to the second- and third-highest usage rates in his career, respectively. Chapman's whiff percentage, strikeout percentage, and several more metrics rank in the 95th percentile or better. But those great numbers hide a down May for Chapman.

In the season's first month, Chapman was on another level. He posted a 1.74 ERA, .871 WHIP, and a 6.33 K/BB ratio, which ranked 10th among all qualified relievers in that span. This past month, though, the walks started piling up and the hits started dropping. Chapman had 11 walks and nine hits in 10 innings in May, good for a 2.00 WHIP and a 4.50 ERA in that month. Through 22 games, Chapman has two saves and a 3.10 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 14 walks.

Those numbers still make him one of the Royals' best relievers, but that is not what fans should want. Chapman should be one of baseball's top relievers, one that contending teams will covet and pay a hefty price to acquire ahead of the postseason push. The Royals keeping Chapman past the trade deadline will be shocking, as the contract and the team's last-place position make Chapman a prime trade candidate. But his performance on the mound will determine the quality of Kansas City's return. Chapman performing better in June will benefit the Royals and get him on a contending team sooner rather than later. If the money is not motivating enough, getting out of Kansas City should be a factor.