Kansas City Royals: Rebuilding brings opportunities for Ryan McBroom

The Kansas City Royals are in the midst of a rebuild but that gives them the chance to see what interesting players like 1B/OF Ryan McBroom can do.

New Kansas City Royals Manager Mike Matheny got an up-close look at Ryan McBroom by complete accident. Watching a minor league Red Sox/Yankee contest his son was playing in, McBroom launched 2 home runs into the Pawtucket night.

Days later, the Royals acquired McBroom from the Yankees who deemed him as expendable with their logjam of first base talent.

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McBroom went on to debut in September for the Royals five years after being drafted out of West Virginia in the 15th round. He had a decent first showing, slashing .293/.361/.360 good for a 95 wRC+ totaling 0.3 fWAR in 83 plate appearances. Defensively, he played both corner outfield slots and 1B.

Looking at his exit velocity, at first, his 84.9 MPH doesn’t look great but there’s a reason for optimism. McBroom absolutely mashed balls on the outer and lower thirds of the zone with EV ranges from 94.4 MPH to 102.9 MPH.

One issue suppressing his overall exit velocity is the fact that he makes so much out of zone contact. The league average chase contact % was 59.6% while McBroom’s was 10 points higher at 69%. On the one hand, the bat to ball skills are there, he just needs to refine his approach as he sees more MLB pitching.

Before the season got delayed, it looked likely McBroom would be part of a 1B platoon, which would give him an opportunity to win the job full-time or get more ABs as an outfielder. While that is on hold for now, the Royals should be excited to see what McBroom can do with MLB playing time.

As a prospect, McBroom spent his time being perpetually blocked. In Toronto where he was originally drafted, Edwin Encarnacion and Justin Smoak occupied the 1B position at the MLB level while super prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. likely fits there longer-term once he moves off 3B. New York was no different as the Yankees had ample options with Greg Bird, Luke Voit, and Mike Ford.

Still, with the exception of 2017, McBroom has posted above-average batting lines in the minors ranging from 119 to 151 wRC+. 2019 was one of his finest years as he had a 146 wRC+ for the AAA Yankees in 2019.

The Royals now get to see what an overlooked prospect can do as they work to develop their next successful core. McBroom probably won’t be a late-blooming superstar who never made prospect lists like Paul Goldschmidt but no one will know until he gets 500 ABs to find out. More realistically, the Royals are hoping McBroom could be like Christian Walker who was blocked by Chris Davis in Baltimore and previously mentioned Goldschmidt and turned in 2.2 fWAR in his first year of being a regular.

Whatever the final outcome ends up being for McBroom the Kansas City Royals were smart to find a hitter with a strong MiLB track record to see what can happen at the MLB level. McBroom could be a AAA hitter or a legitimate MLB piece, only time will tell.