Kansas City Royals: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season

It may be rebuild time once again for the Kansas City Royals, but the 2015 world champions may have a few tricks up their sleeve once again to stay relevant

The Kansas City Royals now face another tough stretch of their organization as they head into 2020. The Ned Yost era is officially over and the Royals are ushering in a new chapter in their franchise’s history. This is a team that has a knack for surprising us with how competitive they are in cases of their roster not being as strong, but I believe 2020 will be overall a bit of an uphill battle for them to stay relevant, unfortunately.

The Kansas City Royals enter 2020 with (respectively) one of the worst rotations in the league on paper as well as a ton of questions surrounding both their bullpen and lineup. We know Whit Merrifield is going to put up quasi-MVP numbers and that the return of Salvador Perez will give them that boost they were missing last year. But does Jorge Soler hit 48 home runs again? I’m not so sure, especially with the rate at which he punches out.

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Soler’s numbers are actually insane if we look at what the brunt of his career has been to this point. Last year was the first time he appeared in a full 162-game season and he beat his previous best by 61 games. He also beat his previous home run record by 36 and RBI record by 70. Soler actually hit more home runs last year than he had in his entire five-year career totaled (38). And he came very close in that same regard with his RBIs as before 2019, he totaled 132 RBIs over his career (117 in 2019). It just seems to me like 2019 was a crazy ceiling year for him, and I’m not so sure he can do that again.

As for the rest of this Royals lineup, there’s a bunch of guys that are going to need to step up. Merrifield, Salvy, Hunter Dozier, and maybe Soler will be the primary offense out of this bunch, but there is also a lot for Ryan O’Hearn to prove as a bit of a flop in 2019 filling in for Eric Hosmer. I think we may see a back-and-forth competition for first base between O’Hearn and Ryan McBroom all year long, especially if O’Hearn posts similar numbers as he did in 2019.

Adalberto Mondesi has shown flashes of being a really good player, but his health always seems to be up for concern. There’s also the younger guys on the squad like Nicky Lopez and Bubba Starling that are still trying to establish themselves, so can either or them be successful in 2020? Maikel Franco being outcast by the Phillies is another guy to keep an eye on. We saw Soler have the year he had in 2019 after being tossed aside by the Cubs. Is a similar season around the corner for Franco?

I happen to think, although I don’t believe the Kansas City Royals will do a lot of winning this year, and although the questions around their lineup are valid, they’re not in as bad of shape as some other teams in the American League. Their lineup will be their strength in 2020, but how much will that strength keep them relevant? I don’t know.

As for their pitching staff, it definitely looks a bit like it will be a year-long tryout for who are going to be the top five guys moving forward when the team is back to winning. Brad Keller is a nice young pitcher with some really good stuff, but his strikeout numbers aren’t that impressive for a guy who throws as hard as he does. As he sits as the number one starter on this team, I have to believe he’s one of the weaker number ones in the league, but I could also very much see him taking a step forward this season as he finished his 7-14 2019 season with a low-4 ERA- not great but not terrible for a guy who has a small control problem right now. I’m excited to see how he progresses and if he can regain some of his command.

As for the rest of the Royals’ starting pitchers, I believe we’ll see a mix of Jorge Lopez, Jesse Hahn, Jakob Junis, Eric Skoglund, and Heath Fillmyer, as well as maybe even Brady Singer and Foster Griffin vying for starts on this team with Mike Montgomery and Danny Duffy serving as the veteran leaders who could be shopped mid-season.

In the bullpen, Kyle Zimmer, Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont, and Richard Lovelady are very intriguing hard-throwing arms that will get a ton of work and exposure, but the guys to really watch are going to be Greg Holland and Trevor Rosenthal who are both trying to get their careers back on track, as well as Ian Kennedy who, if he puts up similar numbers to his 2019 performance, will most likely be traded mid-season.

2020 will be a year much like the Tigers, Orioles, and Mariners will have for the Kansas City Royals. It’ll be a year to try out different players and pitchers to see what the inventory holds for the future. Unfortunately, I don’t see them winning many games as I had them finishing at 56-106 before the Coronavirus and in last place in the AL Central. But it’s going to be interesting to see how their young players will develop with the playing time they’ll accumulate this season.