The Good, the Meh and the Bad From Royals Opening Day
On Thursday afternoon, the Kansas City Royals hosted the Cleveland Guardians in what turned out to be a classic American League Central battle. The Royals came out on top by a final score of 3-1, and here's the good, meh and bad from the club's first game of the season.
The Good
Apr 7, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals third baseman Bobby Witt Jr. (7) is introduced before the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Welcome back, Zack Greinke. The elder statesman of the Royals' rotation had a memorable return to The K, putting up an efficient outing against the Guardians. He did a great job in matching one of the game's elite pitchers in Shane Bieber, who ended up looking like himself in what was a surprisingly short outing — racking up four strikeouts in 4-2/3 innings pitched.
The bullpen held down the fort, with Scott Barlow getting the first save of the season after going two innings and ringing up Myles Straw. It was only a 1-for-4 day for Bobby Witt Jr., but the soon-to-be face of the franchise collected his first hit, RBI and game-winning RBI in the eighth inning. Throw on top of that a couple of nice defensive plays, and it was a very adequate debut for the number one prospect in baseball.
Nicky Lopez might be the most disrespected player in baseball, as no other Gold Glove shortstop would be asked to vacate the spot to make way for an inconsistent and unproven player. With that being said, Lopez is already doing his job admirably, saving a run with a diving grab and tying the game with a two-out RBI double against Bieber.
This is not to mention a solid sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning to move the eventual winning run into scoring position. Lopez proved why he should’ve been the starting shortstop this year. He will never win any popularity contests because his style is not flamboyant enough to stand out amongst the new power-driven, analytics-heavy, "three true outcomes" crowd, but he is still a valuable cog in the Royals machine.
The Meh:
May 30, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Kansas City Royals designated hitter Hunter Dozier (17) hits a solo home run against the Minnesota Twins in the ninth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports
Hunter Dozier got a double (kind of) and drew a walk, two things that were very rare for him last season. Perhaps this could be a confidence boost for last year's Royals least valuable player. In all fairness, Kansas City just needs competency out of the designated hitter spot this year when Salvador Perez isn’t taking a day off. A 1-for-3 day with a walk and a run isn’t anything to sneeze at, even if the double should’ve been an error.
Jake Brentz, although not necessarily sharp, did manage to walk his way off the tightrope in his first outing of the year. However, it would be nice if he didn’t put himself on that tightrope so often by allowing the other team to get on via the free pass. But at the end of the day, the ERA is 0.00 and he managed to get the ball to the two-headed monster of Staumont and Barlow.
The Bad:
May 28, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi (27) in action during the ninth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
It’s only the first game of the year and it was against one of the top pitching staffs in the game, so this isn't a doomsday scenario. On the other hand, four through eight in the batting order have to be able to give the Royals something. That group went 1-for-14 on Opening Day and was only really a factor when Cleveland dished out a walk to Taylor and the "double" to Dozier.
This was all led by the seven-year project that is Adalberto Mondesi, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and nearly put up his first error of the season before being bailed out by Carlos Santana. In the history of baseball, I can’t remember a player that has been given as many chances as Mondesi despite doing so little with those chances. If he doesn’t find a way to stay healthy and produce, he’ll be out of not only the lineup this season, but out of a job next year.
The Royals finally have replacements for Mondesi. If he somehow plays 140-plus games this year and puts up an OPS+ over 100 and leads the league in steals, the Royals stand a pretty good shot at being seriously competitive. But considering Mondesi’s track record, I highly doubt that is going to be the case.
Game Grade: B
It was a solid, yet unspectacular win for the Royals — one where the pitching and offense grinded out a result against a team who had a better starter on the mound and an offense that got on base more than them. This is otherwise known as a vintage Royals win.
