The 4 biggest bombs of this KC Royals season

May is still a week away, but this KC Royals season already feels long. They've played badly and, after ending their seven-game losing streak with an exciting 11-8 victory over the Angels Saturday night, have won only five times in 21 games.

That this is a campaign wracked by disappointments understates the obvious. The miserable record speaks for itself. Key injuries, something the Royals couldn't afford entering a new season and which include Kris Bubic's Tommy John Surgery-necessitating UCL issue, have weakened the lineup. And players who need to perform and produce haven't.

Who among these Royals have been the biggest individual disappointments? Hunter Dozier shocked everyone with three hits and three RBIs Saturday, but still has a .196/.213/,261 line, which means he's not even meeting expectations arising from the .226/.297/.391he's slashed over the past three campaigns. Nicky Lopez is hitting just .171, a number more in line with his 2019 (.240), 2020 (.201) and 2022 (.227) marks than his stellar 2021 performance. And Michael Massey's weak bat (.115/.111/.135) makes one wonder how long he can keep his second base job.

Who, though, have been the biggest bombs?

Count this outfielder as one of the KC Royals' major disappointments

Although Kyle Isbel hit .386 in the Cactus League this spring, his place in the Opening Day lineup was determined in no small part by the oblique strain Drew Waters suffered in late February. It was then that Isbel's chances to begin the season in center field improved dramatically, if not exponentially. And in center field at Kauffman Stadium is where he started Opening Day.

But while his errorless defense has proven him worthy of the role, his bat hasn't. On his way already to a second straight disappointing season after batting only .211 last year, and after going 1-for-4 and just missing his first home run of the season Saturday night, he's hitting .193, an unsustainable average if he wants to remain a major league outfielder.

Isbel's time in center may end when Waters returns ... or earlier if his struggles at the plate continue.

Who else has been a big disappointment?

Brady Singer hasn't been close to the pitcher the KC Royals hoped he'd be

After a brief demotion to the minors last season, Brady Singer returned to Kansas City and suddenly became the pitcher the Royals envisioned when they picked him in the first round of the 2018 amateur draft. He finished the campaign 10-5 with a 3.23 ERA; those 10 wins were one more than he'd picked up in his first 39 big league starts and the ERA was his first to dip under 4.00.

So it was that Singer's role in the rotation became more important than ever, and deservedly so: if he wasn't the staff ace, who was?

Now that question, seemingly answered by his 2022 performance, is open again. Other than his first start, a five-inning, one-run effort against Texas that gave him his only win of the season, Singer hasn't been good.

He gave up six runs in five innings against the Giants April 8. Atlanta battered him for eight runs in five frames six days later, and Texas tagged him for five runs in five Wednesday afternoon. All told, he's surrendered an atrocious 19 earned runs in 21 innings, and his sinker and four-seamer velocities are down. He's 1-2 with an 8.14 ERA.

In short, Singer isn't the pitcher who returned so triumphantly from Triple-A Omaha late last May. A disappointment? Unequivocally.

But there are others.

Nate Eaton remains versatile, but has bombed at the plate for the KC Royals

Nate Eaton didn't tear up the American League after Kansas City called him up for his first taste of the majors last year. As one of the minor league replacements for 10 Royals whose vaccination status prohibited them from crossing the Canadian border for a four-game series at Toronto, he went 2-for-12; then, after a short trip back to Omaha, he finished the campaign with the Royals and a .264 average. Together with his defensive versatility, it was enough to establish Eaton as a legitimate Opening Day roster candidate.

Eaton made that roster on the strength of a .324/.390/.514 spring training line. But his bat has since gone silent—he owns only one hit, an April 10 single against Texas, and is 1-for-25 (.040) in a dozen games. He's been valuable in the field, however, playing every outfield position without committing an error.

But all the versatility in the world won't protect Eaton if he can't hit. And that astonishingly unproductive bat has rendered him a major disappointment. Time will tell if he can solve the problem, but time is a precious commodity he may be losing.

Who's the fourth major disappointment for the Royals?