Royals extend electrifying All-Star as future comes into focus

Amid Kansas City's well documented search for outfield help, their starting pitching surplus in need of some narrowing and a precarious situation at second base, some key offseason elements have fallen to the wayside.

One of those matter are contract extensions. While many look at the offseason as determining "what's next" in the sense of what new names could enter the mix, sometimes it's easy to forget that "what's next" can (and should) also include who the strengths you already have within the organization.

And on Friday, the Royals made huge strides in securing their future after extending a key figure to their winning season in 2025.

According to ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan, the Royals are finalizing a multi-year extension with their All-Star third baseman Maikel Garcia after his breakout 2025 campaign. Passan reports that deal will keep Garcia in Kansas City for the next five seasons with a club option for a sixth year.

Now that Garcia's future is certain, the Royals move one step closer to solidifying their future as an organization.

The Royals' core looks a lot more solidified after Maikel Garcia extension

To say Garcia was worthy of receiving an extension this season would be an understatement. The 25-year old looked fantastic in 2025.

After an underwhelming 71 wRC+ campaign in 2024 when all looked lost, Garcia saw an immaculate 50-point turn around in wRC+, posting a well above-average 121 mark. He slashed .286/.351/.449 with 16 HR, 74 RBI, just a 12.6% K-rate and a respectable 9.3% walk rate. This was more than good enough to earn him Silver Slugger finalist recognition.

On top of that, he was still the 20+ stolen base threat he'd built himself up to be over the past three big league seasons and he captured his first career Golf Glove after leading all American League third baseman in DRS, OAA and FRV.

Simply put, while the Royals weren't in jeopardy of losing Garcia until after the 2029 season before the extension, Garcia established himself as an asset that would be extremely hard to replace with a 5.6 fWAR total that ranked amongst the Top 15 position players in all of baseball.

With this deal, the Royals have now locked up their left side of the infield and two key pieces in the heart of their lineup for next five seasons (and potentially more). Both Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. are guaranteed to be with the club through 2030 before Garcia's club option kicks in and Witt's four year stretch of player options begin.

Now, to say the future is completely certain may be a bit of a stretch. The Royals have a similar decision to make regarding an extension for Vinnie Pasquantino, they'll need to see if top prospect-caliber youngsters like Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen can become future building blocks themselves and there's still plenty of holes they'll have to fill this winter through free agency or the trade market.

But as the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day and Kansas City just locked up a key building block to continue to bring their future into focus.