3 KC Royals who will make the 2024 Opening Day roster but won’t last the season

The KC Royals returned to the diamond last week down in Surprise, Arizona. While few things bring me more joy than hearing broadcasters Ryan Lefebvre and Jake Eisenberg back in the booth, I am so excited for Opening Day 2024.

The Royals' busiest offseason in recent memory saw more than $400 million in payroll investments, most of that coming from shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.'s 11-year extension worth $288.7 million. Adding veterans Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha to the rotation addressed major issues for Kansas City in 2023, fueling optimism about the Royals on a national scale.

Which KC Royals will survive the 2024 season, from beginning to end?

Experienced MLB fans can easily discern spring training talk from reality. Kin to football coaches saying a player is in the best shape of his life, everything feels great and anything is possible before the season starts. Right now, the Royals are healthy and fresh, the AL Central seems even weaker than usual, and the arid Arizona air has balls sailing like no other.

All that to say, everything is a best-case scenario for any baseball team during this time of year. That was the case with the 2023 Royals as well. Sure, they were not perfect, but fans expected big things from Witt and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, but those expectations spread to those who never came close to living up to them. 10 players on the 2023 Opening Day roster did not even finish the season in Kansas City, with only 11 players from that roster currently listed on Kansas City's 40-man roster. The team had a ton of turnover this offseason, and rightfully so.

Not every player is going to perform well, stay healthy, or be a combination of the two. That is why baseball rosters are so deep, with replacement options waiting in the wings. As such, no MLB fan should expect every player who starts the season on the roster to be there at the season's end. For the Royals, there are a handful of options who may not finish 2024 in powder blues.