Kendrys Morales has had an up and down 2016 season for the Kansas City Royals, but he has been on quite a hitting streak so far in September.
The Kansas City Royals have not had the kind of season they were hoping for in 2016. The defending World Series champions find themselves in third place in the American League Central, trailing the first place Cleveland Indians by 8 1/2 games, and they’re also four games out of the American Wild Card standings. They’ve had to contend with injuries to important players like Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez and inconsistent play overall. One player whose season has mirrored his team’s is designated hitter Kendrys Morales.
Morales is currently hitting .254/.322/.454 with a .331 wOBA in 522 plate appearances, but he went through cold spells during May (.163/.245/.304) and July (.191/.280/.382) which brought down his overall numbers. Recently, Morales has turned things and he is now on one of the best power hitting streaks of his career.
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On Monday night, against Minnesota’s starter Jose Berrios, Morales connected on an 86.4 mph changeup in the fifth inning that got too much of the plate for home run number 22.
The next night, Morales hit his first home run of the game in the first inning off starter Ervin Santana. It was an 85.1 mph slider that was drifting in a bit but Morales was able to stay with it and hit it to deep right field. His second home run came in Kansas City’s seven-run ninth inning and it was an opposite field shot off Twins’ reliever Pat Light who threw an 84 mph slider that didn’t slide enough. Morales deposited it into the visitor’s bullpen to give the Royals a 10-3 lead.
On Wednesday night, Morales hit his fourth home run of the series in the sixth inning against Twins’ starter Kyle Gibson. The dinger, measured at 437 feet, was off an 87 mph fastball and gave Kansas City a 4-2 lead but they’d go on to lose the game 6-5.
Morales’ recent reemergence has impressed his manager, Ned Yost, who spoke with reporters before Wednesday’s game. Yost praised Morales’s approach at the plate and also spoke of his newfound ability to lay off pitches low and out of the zone. Yost said, “Right now, his timing, his rhythm and his tempo is perfect.”
Since September 1, which is an admittedly minuscule sample size, but necessary for this exercise, Morales has been batting .667 against breaking balls and .500 against off-speed pitches. During the month of August, he hit .273 against breaking balls and .222 against off-speed pitches. Morales has also not gone hitless in a game since August 27 when he went 0-4 with a strikeout against the Red Sox.
Morales hit his 25th home run of the season on Wednesday night, his fifth home run in the past seven games. He also collected 10 RBI during the series with the Twins—five on Tuesday night alone—which brought his season total to 72.
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While the Kansas City Royals have a tough hill to climb in order to even make the playoffs, with Morales’ hot hitting, and the returns of both Cain and Perez on the horizon, the defending champions are hoping to go on a streak of their own to finish the season strong and successfully defend their title.