Royals' dreadful losing stretch masking newly extended All-Star's poor start

The Kansas City Royals are a sinking ship at this point. Their brutal 15-1 defeat to the Yankees on Tuesday marked their fourth series loss in their last five and they now sit 22-33 - nine games back of the AL Central lead and five games back of the final AL Wild Card spot. Their dreadful offense, skeptical pitching performances and calls for coaching changes have carried headlines of late, pushing some other storylines out of the limelight.

One of those has been the play of Kansas City's All-Star leadoff man Maikel Garcia. In 2025 he was flying high and was arguably the Robin to Bobby Witt Jr.'s Batman, but this season has seen him fall short of the lofty expectations he created for himself last year. While he hasn't underperformed to the degree fellow offensive stars like Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez have to start the season, there's certainly been a notable downward progression.

Through May last season, Garcia was slashing .316/.378/.474 with five homers, 25 RBI and a 135 wRC+. Now, with the end of May just days away, and with the same amount of plate appearances, Garcia's 2026 stat line pales in comparison to his All-Star start to the season a year ago.

While a potential downturn was always possible when hitting leadoff, without the protection that hitting in the heart of the order amongst the likes of Witt, Pasquantino and Perez, his drop in power is alarming. While the Royals don't really boast anyone else who could hit first, it's alarming how dramatically Garcia has scuffled in his first full season in the spot.

Despite poor start to 2026, Maikel Garcia isn't a lost cause by any means

The 58 point downward swing in AVG along with the 98 point drop in SLG is certainly alarming this season. However, a mid-.200s AVG and near-.700 OPS in this offense is nothing to really cause a fuss over. Many have proved this season that it could be worse.

The encouraging thing for Garcia this season is the fact that his ability draw walks and limit the strikeout have looked just as strong as they have in the past. Last year, Garcia finished the season with a 12.6% K-rate and a 9.3% walk rate. This season, while marginally worse in both aspects, he's still under two percent higher in K-rate and roughly just a percent off his walk rate from his maiden All-Star campaign at 14.5% and 8.1%, respectively.

He also still has room to grow into his hitting ability this year according to expected metrics. As per Baseball Savant, his mediocre .258 AVG is paired with an 81st percentile xBA of .276.

On top of that, he's still been every bit the elite defender at third base that Royals fans have come to expect. The 26-year-old is tied for third among MLB third baseman in DRS at seven and tied for first in both OAA and FRV with marks of five in each stat.

By no means should the Royals be having buyer's remorse right now after extending Garcia to a shiny new 5-year extension this winter. However, he's not nearly lived up to the expectations that taking home World Baseball Classic MVP honors this winter off the heels of a breakout 2025 season brought.

There's plenty of names to blame for the Royals dreadful start to the new season, but even if he is flying under the radar in comparison to other more prevalent underachievers, Garcia does need to shoulder some of that blame.

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