The Good, Meh & Bad From the Royals’ Season-Opening Series
In this story:
Well, that was certainly something. The Kansas City Royals went through as many ups and downs in their first series as one could expect. The Cleveland Guardians have owned the Royals the past few seasons so being able to get out of the first set of the year with a split isn’t disastrous, but it is disappointing after Kansas City took the first two games.
The Good, Meh & Bad is a new series on Inside the Royals in which I'll be going through the Royals' most recently-completed series of games and providing commentary and analysis on the performance of the team. With that being said, here's the good, meh and bad from the first one.
The Good
Jun 5, 2021; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals left fielder Andrew Benintendi (16) hits a two run hime run in the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Andrew Benintendi is well on his way to playing his way right out of Kansas City’s price range, as the left fielder is having a monstrous start to the season with a slash line of .538/.625/.769. If it wasn’t for the Royals discovering Steven Kwan, Benintendi would’ve easily been the best player on the field. The Royals can ill afford to lose Benintendi, as his prime (at the plate) could very well be better than that of Alex Gordon.
Big props also have to be given to Brad Keller, who put up a scoreless opening appearance on Saturday while allowing his team to come through and walk things off in extra innings. Inside the Royals recently made predictions about this season and I said that the club would most likely be held back by its lack of starting pitching. If Keller can produce like this, that might help solve the issue.
Nicky Lopez also had a solid start to the season, as Royals' second baseman got a hit in every single game while racking up a series slash line of .400/.455/.500. It’s strange how Kansas City sees a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop that led the team in batting average and OBP last year and immediately moves him to second base and buries him at the bottom of the order. Lopez should be leading off — end of story — and Whit Merrifield should be the one relegated to the slums of the lineup.
The Meh
Apr 7, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals third baseman Bobby Witt Jr. (7) runs to first base after hitting a go-ahead RBI double during the eighth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Bobby Witt Jr. showed all the potential in the world in the first two games of the series, collecting the game-winning hit in game one and making the game-saving defensive play in game two. He also showed why he is still a rookie, as his batting average after one series is .125 and like most Royals players, he seems to have developed an allergy to drawing walks.
So for everyone penciling in Witt Jr. for the American League Rookie of the Year award, just take a moment to simmer down. There are going to be more series like this one for the youngster as he tries to tread water at the big league level.
Hunter Dozier was also the only player other than Lopez to record a hit in each game this series, so at least that’s something positive to build around. On the other hand, there was very little in the way of power and he failed to draw a walk the entire series, so his OPS is nothing special to look at. At least early on, it seems like Dozier has adapted himself to his new designated hitter role quite well. Only time will tell if he’ll be able to stick around.
The Bad
Oct 3, 2021; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Jackson Kowar (37) delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Everything about game number three was bad and part of that trickled over to the finale in which the starters and the bullpen were unable to muster the slightest bit of resistance against a Cleveland offense that was no-hit multiple times last season. Quite frankly, Jackson Kowar should not see the major leagues again this season unless he is putting up Bob Gibson-like numbers in Omaha because it is very apparent that he is not a major league-caliber pitcher at this time.
Brady Singer, Kowar and Kris Bubic exemplify the shortcomings of the Royals organization when it comes to developing starting pitching. Again, it’s only one series, but these three pitchers have shown little over their entire careers that suggests they deserve to be in the club's future plans.
The Royals' pitching staff as a whole could not put Cleveland batters away with two outs. The Guardians scored 27 runs in the final two games of the series, and 15 of those runs came with two down in the inning. The ability to walk the tightrope the Royals had shown in the first two games of the series quickly vanished, as they consistently fell off it and plunged into the bottomless pit of two-out walks, infield singles and home runs surrendered.
The offense, as a whole, was spotty — to put it nicely. To put it more accurately, it was pathetic for every game except the final one and even that effort was propped up by Benintendi’s two-run shot in the ninth. Half of the order is hitting below .200 with Lopez and Benintendi being the only players to possess an OPS. above .700. While it is only one series, there doesn’t appear to be any change to the Royals' woefully inconsistent approach to the plate.
Series Grade: C+
Kansas City was outscored in the series 28-14, but the optimists will look at the series split and ignore the glaring red flags with the team. Through one series, the starting pitching was a mess and the offense was an inconsistent wreck. When a team gets outplayed as bad as the Royals did and can still find a way to grind out a split, things are not completely terrible. However, if the Royals don’t get their act together, they’ll find themselves closer to the first overall pick than they will to the first AL Wild Card spot.
