KC Royals News: 4 questions for last full Cactus League week

That the KC Royals didn't play Monday is probably a good thing considering what's happened in their last 10 games. The Cactus League's hottest team before that stretch began, the Royals turned cold and lost seven times, a tailspin that cost the club their position atop the League. (At 16-9, they now trail the 13-7 Angels).

The day off came with exactly 10 days left before Kansas City's regular-season opener against Minnesota at Kauffman Stadium. Now in the last full week of exhibition games until then, the Royals play the Cubs in a televised game (Bally Sports Kansas City) Tuesday evening, the White Sox Wednesday, San Diego Thursday, San Francisco Friday, and the Dodgers Saturday. KC then plays three exhibition contests before taking Wednesday off and beginning the season next Thursday.

This week's play could answer some key questions. Here are a few.

How will Bobby Witt Jr. and Brady Singer perform when they return from the WBC?

Conspicuous in their respective absences from camp lately have been Royals stars Bobby Witt Jr. and Brady Singer, who've been with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.

But no matter what happens Tuesday evening when Team USA plays for the WBC title against the winner of tonight's Mexico-Japan semifinal matchup, Witt and Singer will be back with the Royals later this week. How they'll play upon their return is a good question.

Neither have filled major roles in the WBC—Witt played for the fourth time during the club's runaway 14-2 semifinal thrashing of Cuba Sunday, and has an RBI double in two at-bats, while Singer has given up four runs in two innings. To say they'll be rusty is probably inaccurate—after all, they've both been working out every day—but both may require at least a little time to reacclimate to KC's preseason preparation. Witt was hitting .389 with a double, triple and four RBIs in seven games, and Singer had struck out eight, issued only one walk, and surrendered a run in 4.2 innings before they left for the WBC.

Next question, please.

Can Nicky Lopez and Salvador Perez keep up their hot hitting after the WBC?

Nicky Lopez looked more last year like the player who hit .240 in 2019 and .201 in 2020 than the one who surprised the baseball world two seasons ago by becoming the first Royal shortstop to hit .300. He batted only .227. And he was 0-for-6 in Cactus League play when he and teammate Vinnie Pasquantino joined Team Italy for the WBC.

Fortunately, something clicked and Lopez found his stroke, pacing Italy at the plate with a 9-for-19 (.474) performance and seven RBIs in five games.

Like Lopez was for Italy, Salvador Perez was hot for Team Venezuela. Despite going just 1-for-4 in Venezuela's quarterfinal loss to the USA, he slashed .429/.467/.929 with a homer, four doubles and six RBIs overall.

Neither Royal will maintain such torrid bats. But just hitting well will help the club.

Another Royal poses a much different question for the Royals—will Vinnie Pasquantino start hitting after his World Baseball Classic experience?

Pasquantino, who appears to have the edge over Nick Pratto at first base, slumped at the Classic, managing only four singles in 20 at-bats and failing to drive in any runs. He was slashing .444/.545/.778 with a home run and four RBIs in four Cactus League games before leaving for the tournament.

Moving on to the next question...

Where does reliever Richard Lovelady stand with the KC Royals?

By necessity, Kansas City's muddled bullpen picture will begin to clear this week. Because the team has far, far more relievers in camp than it can squeeze onto the 26-man regular-season roster, cuts are coming.

One question remark is Richard Lovelady, who somewhat surprisingly found his way back to the mound late last season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery late in the 2021 campaign. After two disappointing tries at the majors (he went 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA across 26 games in 2019-2020), Lovelady was 2-0, 3.48 in 20 games in 2021 before his UCL issue sidelined him in late August.

But the lefthander's recovery went so well that Kansas City worked him in a game at Double-A Northwest Arkansas, then three more at Triple-A Omaha, last September. He looked good, striking out nine and walking only one in four scoreless innings.

And he's pitching well this spring. Lovelady maintained his perfect 0.00 ERA with a scoreless inning against the Angels Friday and has yet to walk a batter in seven frames. He's also fanned a whopping nine batters.

Will he make the Opening Day roster? We shall see, but a good inning or two this week will make it hard for manager Matt Quatraro to say no.

And one final question...