Recently, Bleacher Report has been publishing pieces that are a part of a Greatest of the Last 25 Years series, and their latest installment is on second basemen. They look not only at offensive contributions, but defensive ones, individual achievements and postseason success to come up with the best of the best.
For the Kansas City Royals, there's an extremely obvious choice for the top spot at second base. But before we dive into that, let's look at Mark Grudzielanek, who Bleacher Report named as the top "honorable mention" for the Royals.
Grudzielanek, a 15-year veteran who made the 1996 All-Star Game and then won his first Gold Glove in 2006, played a long career as a glove-first infielder who was well respected around the game. His Royals years were from 2006-2008 at the tail end of his career. In that time, ht hit 16 home runs while sporting a .300 batting average, .752 OPS, 96 OPS+ and 3.2 Defensive Wins Above Replacement — the most he ever had at a single stop in his career.
There's no doubt that he was a solid option at second, but Whit Merrifield is the hands-down favorite to be labeled as the club's greatest second baseman of the past 25 years.
Whit Merrifield is the Royals' greatest 2B of last 25 years
Over the past few seasons, Merrifield has bounced around a bit, spending time with the Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves, but his best days are likely behind him. In the past two years, he's hit just .255 with a .674 OPS across 240 games. He's also been worth just 1.0 bWAR in that stretch.
Where he first rose to prominence was in a Royals uniform, one that he donned for the first seven years of his career. In that time, he made two All-Star Games, played every single game of the year in three straight seasons, led the AL in doubles and triples once each, hits twice, and stolen bases three times.
Merrifield fit the Royals' typical brand of baseball perfectly during his time there. He was never a big power hitter — though he topped the double-digit home run mark four times — but he was a pesky contact-first bat who stole a ton of bases and always found a way to get on, get over, and get in.
On defense, he turned into a super-utility man, another trait the Royals loved about him. Second base was and always will be his position by trade, but he logged considerable time at first and third base, as well as all three spots in the outfield. Basically as soon as Ben Zobrist departed, Merrifield stepped in to fill his role as a jack-of-all-trades.
To date, Merrifield's career has consisted of 18.3 bWAR, with 17.1 of them coming from his days in Kansas City. He's still an immensely popular figure in the area and will forever be known as one of the best second basemen the Royals have ever rostered. He's the clear best choice for the best they've had in the past 25 years.