Kansas City Royals: Who Will Win the Second Base Competition?
Ned Yost has a decision to make regarding who will be the Royals starting second baseman. He has a few competitors vying for the position.
With most of the lineup set, the Kansas City Royals main competition revolves around who gets the final infield spot next to Eric Hosmer, Alcides Escobar and Mike Moustakas.
General manager Dayton Moore still had many needs to address prior to the start of the 2017 season. However, the team got active plugging its holes in the weeks leading up to spring training.
After the tragic death of Yordano Ventura, the Royals opted to sign veteran starter Jason Hammel on a two-year pact to help stabilize the rotation behind Danny Duffy. The club also replaced now Blue Jay Kendrys Morales by brining in Brandon Moss to be its primary designated hitter, even though he can still play first base and both corner outfield spots. Travis Wood capped off the spending spree when he agreed to play on Kansas City with the hopes of locking down the Royals final rotation spot.
These moves helped the team clarify the major league roster with the only real decisions being at second base and the team’s two bench spots.
Raul Mondesi, Whit Merrfield, Cheslor Cuthbert and Christian Colon are the primary contenders in spring training, with each bringing their own positives towards starting the regular season in a Royals uniform.
But who should Ned Yost tab as the starter at second base? Let’s dive in.
Christian Colon
2016 Stats: 54 G/161 PA/.231 BA/.294 OBP/.293 SLG/.586 OPS/1 HR/6 XBH
Colon was the Royals primary utility man in 2016. At 27 years old (28 in May), the versatile infielder offers the most experience at the major league level of anyone on this list and the greatest versatility.
However, this may make Colon more of a bench player than the team’s starting second baseman.
Colon struggled mightily at the plate in 2016. Hitting barely over .230 and showing little power doesn’t do much to boost your case a starter at the big league level. He was a good hitter down on the farm, but he did not show that last season.
He did show some signs of life in the batter’s box during his 2014 and 2015 campaigns, although he had a smaller sample size. It would be wrong to say that he’s an offensive upgrade over what the Royals got from the second base position in 2016.
If Ned Yost did decide to go with Colon at second base on opening day, it would certainly signal that he wanted a more solid defensive player than offensive potential.
Colon’s lack of upside and defensive versatility will ultimately make him better suited to come off the bench than starting everyday.
Prediction: Colon loses the second base job, but remains on the 25-man roster as a utility player.
Raul Mondesi
2016 Stats: 47 G/149 PA/.185 BA/.231 OBP/.281 SLG/.512 OPS/2 HR/5 XBH
Royals fans have been hearing Mondesi’s name for a while as he’s been on the top of the franchise’s prospects lists for many years now.
Signed out of the Dominican Republic as a 16 year-old in 2011, Mondesi finally made his regular season debut last season. Brought up as a shortstop through the Royals farm system, the rookie made a transition to second base to help the Royals compete for a playoff spot.
Unfortunately for both Mondesi and the Royals, neither performed how they probably wanted to during this time.
Not many people have doubted Mondesi’s ability with the glove. In fact, MLB Pipeline offered a glowing review of his defensive skills in their 2015 scouting report of the infielder.
“Mondesi is much more polished defensively at this point. He has classic shortstop actions and the range, hands and arm to make all the plays at the position. If he gets a chance to catch his breath and let his bat develop, he could blossom into an All-Star.”
While his defense may be great, last season showed that the former top prospect still has to make some adjustments if he wants to become an effective major league hitter.
Mondesi couldn’t get over the .200 batting average line in the 47 games he appeared in and just looked like he didn’t belong at the major league level in the batter’s box just yet.
It remains to be seen how much Mondesi has improved over the offseason. I’m just not sure that it would be good for his development or for the Royals long-term to make him a starter, especially considering the other options available.
Prediction: Mondesi gets sent down to the minor leagues to develop for one more year, until Alcides Escobar leaves the team as a free agent next offseason.
Cheslor Cuthbert
2016 Stats: 128 G/510 PA/.274 BA/.318 OBP/.413 SLG/.731 OPS/12 HR/41 XBH
When Mike Moustakas went down with an injury, most thought that the Royals lineup was going to suffer a big downgrade. However, not many expected his replacement to have the impact that he did.
Cheslor Cuthbert had previously played in 19 games in the big leagues prior to getting this opportunity to start for the Royals at third base. Knowing this, one could expect that there was going to be at least some type of adjustment period, that is if he got it going at all during the 2016 season.
However, Cuthbert surprised right out of the gate and finished the year with similar offensive numbers to the Royals previous starting third baseman.
The 24 year-old provided solid power, hitting both home runs and doubles during his time in the majors last year. This was a relative surprise considering that Cuthbert finished with low home run totals as a minor leaguer, even though he did hit close to 40 doubles in 2013.
Cuthbert does not walk as much as Ned Yost would probably want, but for a guy that wasn’t considered to be a starting caliber major league player, I’m sure he would take his production again this season without a second thought.
Perhaps the biggest question lies in how he will transition to second base. He’s only appeared five total times at the position when combining his major and minor league record experience, which doesn’t bode well for Ned Yost’s confidence when writing his name down in his starting lineup.
Ultimately, I believe that this will be the primary factor in the Royals decision come the end of spring training, but his production last season will make team management think long and hard about the choice.
Prediction: Cuthbert will make the club as a bench bat, but his lack of experience at second base will keep him from starting on a regular basis.
Whit Merrifield
2016 Stats: 81 G/332 PA/.283 BA/.323 OBP/.392 SLG/.716 OPS/2 HR/27 XBH
It’s not ideal to make a major league debut at the age of 27, but Merrifield took his situation in stride during the Royals 2016 campaign.
Like Cuthbert, Merrifield was probably considered as more organizational depth than starting second baseman, but he possibly changed opinions with his performance last season, especially at the plate.
Hitting over .280 as a rookie is not easy and Merrifield showed that his solid minor league numbers could translate in the big leagues.
Coming off a rather disappointing season at Triple-A two years ago, the former ninth round pick probably didn’t think that he would be in the Royals plans last year.
But as it turns out, all Merrifield needed was the opportunity.
Not only did he hold his own with the bat, but the second baseman also provided speed on the bases, stealing 8, while maintaining a steady hand in the field.
He finished the regular season with a solid WAR of 1.6 and showed the Royals organization that he deserved a chance as a full-time starter when the team got healthy for this coming season.
It certainly won’t be easy to beat out the likes of Mondesi and Cuthbert, but Merrifield has a few advantages on his side, the primary one being that he is the only player that is a true second baseman.
Now second base is not the most difficult position to transfer to, but when the race is so close, I believe that his play next to Alcides Escobar last year should and will give him the edge over his fellow infielders.
Prediction: Merrifield is named as the Royals starting second baseman at the end of spring training.
How do you think the Royals second base competition will play out? Who do you think deserves the starting spot? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.